The SIDS-CAP is 5-year partnership between Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for an innovative programmatic approach which enables the integration of GGGI’s technical assistance across the Pacific and Caribbean regions, bringing synergies of different country programs and projects together as a whole, targeting climate action. Implementation of the Small Islands Developing States Climate Action Program (SIDS-CAP) commenced in June 2023. The SIDS-CAP supports climate change mitigation, adaptation, cross-cutting and loss and damage actions in 20 GGGI SIDS member and partner countries in the Pacific and Caribbean (14 Pacific Island Countries and 6 Eastern Caribbean countries). Through the program GGGI implements a broad portfolio of regional and country-level projects aligned with country national climate change objectives and the Luxembourg International Climate Finance Strategy 2021-2025.

The GGGI Small Island Developing States Climate Action Program (SIDS-CAP) aims to achieve impactful climate adaptation and mitigation results and contribute significantly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), each country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement as well as the objectives of countries’ National Adaptation Plans.

SIDS are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. An increase in the incidence of extreme, climate-related weather events has locked SIDS into a cycle of risk reduction and response. Extreme vulnerability to climate change threatens the very existence of some nations and the safety, security, and livelihoods of most others.

Many SIDS countries face low GDP growth rates, high public debt, inadequate capacity, and a dependence on external financial flows, which renders them further vulnerable to external events and to climate change and gives them limited ability to self-fund the interventions that are urgently needed to address the critical challenge of climate change. Transitioning to a resilient, low-carbon economy will not only allow SIDS to adapt to the impacts of climate change, while also meeting their NDC commitments, but also open opportunities to create green jobs, decrease dependence on imported fossil fuels, enhance and restore ecosystem services and protect biodiversity and advance social inclusion and gender equality.

The SIDS, including Pacific and Caribbean SIDS, have been at the forefront of climate change negotiations since the Paris Agreement in 2015 and Fiji hosted COP23 in Bonn in 2017.Pacific and Caribbean SIDS have set ambitious targets in their NDCs and developed Low Emission Development Strategies and committed as a region to net zero targets by 2050, in line with the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement. This demonstration of commitment strengthens their domestic action to meet Paris goals while also signaling to countries worldwide the importance of making the same commitment.

The interventions through SIDS-CAP will support Pacific and Caribbean SIDS to implement their NDCs, NAPs, and LEDS by mobilizing climate finance and highlighting the commitments they have made and their will to implement them. The program will support implementation of the Paris Agreement, national level objectives and achieve co-benefits in green job creation and ecosystem protection, amongst others. The SIDS-CAP will also support the negotiations of SIDS to secure similar commitments and actions from large polluting countries.

The program has 3 outcomes:

Outcome 1: Strengthened national and sector policies and institutional frameworks to integrate climate and enhanced and strengthened NDCs and NAPs to support long-term sustainable low emission, climate resilient transformations, lift barriers to investment and incentivize climate investments.

Target: 50 Policies, strategies, etc. adopted that create an enabling environment to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change

Outcome 2: Scaled up and mobilized climate and green finance to support NDC, NAP and national and sectoral investment plans to support implementation of climate resilience and mitigation.

Target: 750M USD mobilized by 2027

Outcome 3: Enhanced institutional and organizational capacity in the public and private sectors and civil society to respond to climate change and shared knowledge on climate action at national regional levels and across the Pacific and Caribbean regions.

Target: Participants report an enhancement in learning of at least 8 on a 10-point scale, based on 5 questions asked to each participant at the end of each capacity building workshop.