Virgin Islands Climate Fund Garners Support at
The Virgin Islands used COP30 in Belém, Brazil to showcase the Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund (VICCTF) during side events at the CARICOM Pavilion on 13–14 November 2025, securing endorsements and partnership commitments from regional and international organisations (BVI Government; VINO). Delegates reached an agreement in principle with the Caribbean Development Bank and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office to develop a Capacity Building Strategy ahead of the Fund's planned 2026 launch, and several regional partners pledged technical support for project development and renewable energy planning (BVI Government).
The Virgin Islands promoted its new Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund (VICCTF) at a series of side events during COP30 in Belém, Brazil, held at the CARICOM Pavilion on 13 and 14 November 2025. The events, hosted by the Government of the Virgin Islands in partnership with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, were designed to explain the Fund's design, governance and priority investment areas to development partners, multilateral institutions and civil society (BVI Government; VINO).
Speakers from the Virgin Islands delegation emphasised the national urgency of building resilience before disasters strike. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change and ex-officio board member of the Trust Fund, Dr Ronald Berkeley, warned that 'resilience cannot be financed after the storm,' drawing on lessons from Hurricane Irma (BVI Government).
VINO’s coverage referred to him as Dr Ronald F. Dr Kedrick Pickering, Climate Envoy for the Premier and the former minister when the Climate Change Trust Fund Act was passed in 2015, highlighted the bipartisan political support for the initiative (BVI Government). Edward Childs, Chairman of the Trust Fund Board, described the VICCTF as an independent, permanent, nationally owned financing mechanism aligned with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda and guided by international fiduciary standards, environmental and social safeguards (BVI Government).
He stressed fair and equitable access to the Fund for private sector actors, NGOs, community groups and academia (BVI Government). Director of Environment Angela Burnett Penn outlined eligible sectors the Fund will support, expanding on earlier briefings to include the environment, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, insurance and banking, human health, critical infrastructure, human settlements, water resources and energy.
She cited concrete project examples such as mangrove and lagoon restoration, coastal defences, flood mitigation in Road Town, resilience work for the water distribution system, renewable energy installations and a proposed low-interest loan facility to help tourism, agriculture and fisheries businesses become greener and more disaster resilient (BVI Government).
The side events produced immediate, tangible outcomes. Delegates secured an agreement in principle with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean to develop and implement a Capacity Building Strategy for the Trust Fund ahead of its 2026 launch.
The strategy will help ensure the Fund has qualified staff and train local businesses and organisations to prepare strong project proposals and implement funded projects successfully (BVI Government; VINO). Regional partners offered practical support and collaboration. Antigua and Barbuda’s Sustainable Island Resources Framework (SIRF) Fund pledged to share lessons on capacity building; the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Efficiency (CCREEE) expressed interest in helping develop an Integrated Resources Plan to guide the VI’s renewable energy transition; and organisations including the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, Green Overseas Programme, Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, Island Innovation and the OECS Commission pledged collaboration, with the OECS identifying potential opportunities for regionalisation (BVI Government; VINO).
Caribbean Development Bank President Daniel Best praised the Territory’s initiative and urged more predictable climate finance for Overseas Territories, which he said are often excluded from global mechanisms available to other Small Island Developing States (BVI Government). Dr Colin Young, Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, called the VICCTF a best-practice model for small island economies and noted the Fund's seed financing from the Environmental and Tourism Levy as a replicable approach (VINO).
For BVI residents, the VICCTF aims to mobilise and disburse finance to reduce disaster risk, strengthen infrastructure and provide low-interest financing to help local businesses — especially in tourism, fisheries and agriculture — transition to greener, more resilient operations.
The Trust Fund is scheduled for official launch in 2026; further information is available at www.vicctf.org (BVI Government).
Primary source: BVI Government