Enhancing environmental governance in the Caribbean
The University of Delaware's Island Policy Lab has launched a first-of-its kind initiative to ensure that future development projects in the Caribbean are equipped to adapt to climate risks effectively. When completed, this work will set a new benchmark for sustainable development across the region. The research initiative is led by Professor Kalim Shah, Director of the UD Island Policy Lab, with colleagues at the University of the West Indies.
The collaborative effort, which kicked off this month in Barbados, will integrate climate services into Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and bring together key stakeholders from public agencies, academic institutions and private organizations. Funded by NOAA and the U.S. Department of State, the project aims to strengthen environmental governance by embedding scientific climate data into regulatory frameworks.
The work will cover multiple Caribbean islands chosen for their contrasting regulatory frameworks, with the aim of addressing critical gaps in how climate risks are incorporated into EIA processes, which often lack consistent and actionable climate data. On this first Barbados leg, the project has drawn support from the Barbados Meteorological Services, the Ministry of Environment and National Beautification, the Coastal Zone Management Unit and international financial institutions such as the Caribbean Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Private sector project developers are working alongside regulatory bodies and academic institutions to ensure the success of the initiative.
Minister of Planning and Development William Duguid emphasized the importance of the project during the launch event, held at the Savannah Beach Club in Christ Church. “Our very survival as a nation depends on building climate resilience,” Duguid said, highlighting the vulnerability of Barbados’ key infrastructure — such as airports, seaports, and hospitals — located along the coast. He stressed the significance of using climate data in EIA processes to mitigate risks such as sea-level rise and storm surges, which threaten the island’s long-term sustainability.
The initiative follows a phased approach, beginning with assessments of the existing institutional frameworks in Barbados, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, with other countries following in the future. The research team will evaluate how well current climate services align with the needs of both public agencies and private developers. In subsequent phases, stakeholders will participate in co-designing tailored climate tools to enhance EIA processes, leading to the development of Climate Services Implementation Plans. These plans will provide a roadmap for integrating climate services sustainably across sectors and jurisdictions.
“This project is about more than just collecting data – it’s about turning scientific insights into practical tools for decision-makers,” Shah explained. The co-design process, which involves collaboration with local stakeholders and international partners, aims to reduce conflicts between regulators and developers by embedding climate considerations early in the project approval process. This alignment will ensure that new developments are both environmentally sound and climate-resilient.
The research is expected to deliver several key outcomes, including enhanced coordination among regulatory bodies, improved access to climate data, and greater institutional capacity to manage environmental risks. Dr. Sylvia Donhert, Chief of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Compete Caribbean program, endorsed the project saying that it reflects the growing urgency for climate action across the region. “Embedding climate science into development planning is essential not just for policy but for the economic well-being of the region."
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Small island states forging climate legacy
Comprising nations that are often overshadowed by larger counterparts on the economic stage, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) has become a formidable presence in shaping the discourse around climate change. Despite their limited economic clout, the AOSIS group wields influence by virtue of their vulnerability to the frontlines of climate impacts, making them pioneers in advocating for climate justice.
Now at the heart of global climate negotiations, the AOSIS group has successfully spearheaded the establishment of a breakthrough in climate justice: A dedicated fund geared towards assisting less developed nations in bolstering their adaptation and resilience efforts.
Kalim Shah, associate professor of energy and environmental policy at the University of Delaware, can comment on AOSIS and its role at The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (also known as UNFCCC). He makes the following points:
The AOSIS group, which is the negotiating body for small island developing states (SIDS) in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has emerged over the last decade as a major force in the global negotiations (even though the group comprises of small island nations which are typically not significant economic powerhouses=). They continue to lead on a number of key components of the UNFCCC climate agreement and wield this power largely because small islands are on the frontlines of climate impacts like seal level rise and are among the first to be impacted, even as they hold "no responsibility" for global warming. Small island states have now successfully led the negotiations for and approval of acknowledgement of "loss and damage" and a specific new loss and damage fund. This fund is dedicated to helping less developed countries with their adaptation and resilience building needs. “Loss and damage” is a general term used in UN climate negotiations to refer to the consequences of climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, or when options exist but a community doesn’t have the resources to access or utilize them. This could be a turning point for the Alliance of Small Island States, since over 70% of climate funds to date have been allocated or distributed to climate mitigation efforts and very little to the SIDS. Since SIDS do not account for massive amounts of Greenhouse gas emissions, this was of little real help to them. But now the global consensus is understanding that the 1.5 degrees threshold of the Paris Accord will be passed and more efforts on the adaptation side must be available for the most vulnerable, such as SIDS to cope with climate impacts that are inevitable. To set up an interview with Professor Shah, visit his profile and click on the "contact" button.
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Net-zero emissions targets: Genuine goals or Fortune 500 greenwashing?
Moving towards “net-zero” emissions has become a popular “target” for multinational corporations that have committed to improving their sustainability. But is it a new tagline from marketing departments or something firms are actually committed to?
About half of the U.S.-based Fortune 500 firms have declared their intent to reach net zero – the point at which the emissions from an entity equals the amount of greenhouse gasses being taken out of the atmosphere – as early as by 2030.
The University of Delaware’s Kalim Shah, an expert on energy and climate policy, has some thoughts on these targets, their feasibility and why these companies are pursuing these goals.
We should question why the language has changed in less than a decade from lowering emissions or low carbon options to “net-zero” when targets to meet lower emissions have not really been fulfilled in the first place. Part of the explanation could be to get ahead of would-be legislated pressure, that is, to dissuade legislative efforts which would imply compliance requirements, whereas now, these pledges are completely voluntary. Net zero is more technologically feasible in some sectors/ processes and not in others. In other words, there is likely not a cost effective, technological fix for net zero in the aluminum smelting or iron or concrete making industries in the immediate future. Lack of industry standards for measuring net zero – or perhaps more correctly, several competing methods of calculating net zero – can give some cover, for now, to firms attempting to “greenwash.” In effect, one firm's net zero may not be comparable to another's net zero. A company’s “emissions scope” must be examined closed. Are firms referring to direct emissions related to on-site fuel combustion or fleet vehicles; Indirect emissions related to emission generation of purchased energy, such as heat and electricity; and/or Other indirect emissions related to both emissions from upstream and downstream business activities when setting targets? We have to "read the fine print" as well, as terms that sound as ambitious but have slightly different strategies, such as “carbon neutral” and “carbon negative” targets can also complicate how we hold firms accountable. Where net zero is less possible, emissions could be “offset” through various schemes like carbon credits of forest offsets. A carbon offset is a reduction or removal of emissions of greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. En vogue since the 2000s, largely because it presented a way for indebted developed countries to capture market value by preserving endangered forests when multinationals ‘"offset" operations emissions by paying said developing countries, this mechanism has become highly questionable of late for its unverifiability. To arrange an interview, click on Dr. Shah's profile and press the contact button found there.
Media
Biography
Dr Shah is a recognized expert on public policy, regulation and governance in small island jurisdictions. As an institutional theorist, his research addresses science-based policy and regulatory design and administration for climate change, pollution prevention, clean technology, industrialization and sustainable production and consumption. His new work is on the effectiveness of tools such as technology needs assessments and regulatory impact assessments for informing policy decisions.
Dr. Shah was appointed as the Coordinator of the Universities Consortium of Small Island States, a UN Multi-stakeholder Partnership and served as Coordinating Lead Author for Environmental Policy Assessment of the UN Global Environmental Outlook 6 Report. He is the President of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Association. He is an active member of the AAAS Caribbean Committee.
Dr. Shah’s expertise continues to be called upon in the international sphere, where he has provided expert advice, research and analysis for organizations including the World Bank Group, InterAmerican Development Bank, United Nations Development Program, Pan-American Health Organization and various governments of island countries including Guyana and Suriname where he designed the national climate change policies. Dr Shah received his PhD in Public Policy from George Mason University with his dissertation on corporate sustainability and regulatory environmental management. He received his MSc in Natural Resource Management from the University of the West Indies and BSc in Natural Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago.
Industry Expertise
Training and Development
Utilities
Energy
International Trade and Development
Areas of Expertise
Public Policy
Environment, Social, Governance (ESG)
Institutional Transformation
Small Island Developing States
Energy Security and Transition
Climate Change
Business and the Natural Environment
Innovation
Media Appearances
Workshop aims to strengthen island’s climate resilience
Barbados Today online
2024-10-16
Sharing an overview of the project, principal investigator and Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at the Biden School, Professor Kalim Shah, said: “This is a NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] and the US Department of State-funded research project, and we are reviewing and understanding the climate services and products available in several Caribbean countries.” “One is to better understand how we can develop or co-design climate services and products that are useful to project developers in the development processes here in Barbados. The second objective is… how we can integrate these climate services and products… into the environmental and social impact assessment processes,” Shah said.
On the other hand, the Director of the Island Policy, Professor Kalim Shah, argues, “It is not a matter of more data; it’s a matter of more strategic data and what we do with that data.”
How small island 'renewables laboratories' are leading the way in transitioning from fossil fuels
Reuters online
2024-06-19
"Kalim Shah, director of the Island Policy Lab at the University of Delaware, U.S., points out that the small size of islands makes it difficult to develop projects that benefit from economies of scale, a challenge SIDS share with landlocked rural areas, which struggle to install renewable energy systems to serve remote, dispersed and often low-income communities in a cost-effective way. It also means they are often left at the back of the queue when developers seek to import components from overseas. Shah cites the supply chain bottlenecks in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which sometimes led to Caribbean islands waiting up to 18 months for solar system components as manufacturers prioritised fulfilling larger orders from elsewhere."
Experts See Environmental Risk from China’s Small Island BRI Efforts
Voice of America online
2022-11-27
Large-scale infrastructure projects on such islands, common under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, increase risks to the environment, according to Kalim Shah, assistant professor at the University of Delaware specializing in governance in small island states.
University of Delaware | Climate Change Hub online
2021-11-09
As COP26 enters its second week, climate and energy experts from the University of Delaware are sharing their opinions about the proceedings, including pressing issues, conference goals, and future outlooks. In this entry, Kalim Shah, Assistant Professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Director of the UD Island Policy Lab, shares his thoughts.
Potential clean energy transition pathways in the US Virgin Islands using carbon sensitive policy options
Energy for Sustainable Development
2022
This study uses the LEAP–OSeMOSYS modeling tool to examine exploratory decarbonization scenarios in the U. S Virgin Islands (USVI). The method combines quantitative modeling of data gathered from utilities and power generators with qualitative information gathered through engagement with experts and diverse business and civil society stakeholder. The results show the effects of two utility scale energy systems - on the islands of St Thomas /St John and St Croix - and future optimized capacity addition with solar, liquefied petroleum gas and wind, whereby renewable energy targets can be achieved over time. Results are also modelled for electric vehicle deployment over time, on the islands. The models take into consideration the effects of extreme weather event impacts on electricity demand; and electric vehicles deployment on the grid, where grid destabilization is a potential risk. These findings can serve as inputs for updating comprehensive island energy strategies in the USVI to meet carbon emissions reduction goals.
A global empirical analysis on the diffusion & innovation of carbon pricing policies
Journal of Cleaner Production
2022
There are 45 countries which have adopted a kind of carbon pricing policy – either a carbon tax or entered a cap–and–trade or both – while other countries do not have such policies implemented. As carbon pricing policies are considered as an effective lever to mitigate climate change, there is a need to understand what factors are motivating countries to adopt a carbon pricing policies and what factors might limit such endeavor. There is thus a need to examine how carbon pricing policies get adopted cross–nationally to examine pathways for climate change mitigation and incentivize other countries to follow. In this study, a model combining both internal and external diffusion factors is built (how one countries adoption of a carbon pricing policy affects another) to identify factors of adoption of carbon pricing policies. An Event History Analysis approach was used by compiling data for 127 countries running from 1990 to 2019. The findings show that the carbon pricing policies diffuse mainly through learning from neighboring countries and to a slight degree, by imitation. With a split sample analysis to account for policy heterogeneity, it was seen that both the carbon tax and the cap–and–trade system diffuse through the learning mechanism, however for the cap–and–trade, the policy can also diffuse through coercion and normative pressure if countries are part of EU. It was also found from the regressions that adoption of the carbon pricing policy by a country is motivated by a democratic political regime and from the level of coal production in the country. Among other groups, this finding is important for the international climate advocacy groups to decide which countries are more likely to adopt such policies where they can push forward this agenda.
Small island developing states, tourism and climate change
Journal of Sustainable Tourism
2022
Tourism resembles an indispensable source for financing national development and securing local livelihoods in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) with their sun-sea-sand tourism. Related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions counteract sectoral development as climate impacts have begun to severely reduce the attractiveness of destinations. This is valid especially for disaster-prone SIDS where slow and rapid onsetting phenomena and severe, frequent weather events are already experienced, increasingly putting tourist assets, infrastructure, local livelihoods and unique biodiversity under pressure. Against this background, this review synthesizes the recent climate change and tourism literature relating to main SIDS regions, highlighting what is at risk. The authors provide latest evidence of the role tourism plays for these islands and elaborate the peculiar climate risks, impacts and consequences for tourism development. The current state of adaptation is explored and research priorities in SIDS regions are highlighted. Whereas SIDS show high mitigation ambition, the significance of CO2 emissions along the value chain and especially related to the transport to SIDS destinations remains a problem that developed nations must address in their national emission reduction plans. Further research at the interface of climate change and tourism is needed, contributing to the decarbonisation of tourism and successful adaptation in SIDS.
Electric vehicle adoption in small island economies: Review from a technology transition perspective
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment
2022
Small Island States present features, such as compact road networks, low commuter distances, and often large tourism service sectors, that could make the adoption of electric vehicles for transportation which is an attractive way to reduce their costly dependence on imported fossil fuel and their greenhouse gas emissions. Through the transition theory lens, we review the national policy measures and broad clean transportation targets that small island countries are implementing to encourage electric mobility deployment. From information compiled for 18 small island countries, we find a growing trend in electric vehicle and infrastructure development incentives among broader clean transportation transformation policies and nationally determined contribution targets; and large country-to-country variations in enabling conditions to smoothen EV transition. Small island countries are not uniform but instead are very dispersed across the transition S-curve. The review, therefore, finds that the mobility transition requires island-specific approaches and solutions that will accentuate critical policy and management elements for fostering transitions.
A Monte Carlo based approach to the resource assessment of Jamaica's geothermal energy potential
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
2022
The Eastern Caribbean chain of islands is commonly known to exhibit high-enthalpy systems for geothermal energy exploitation. The northernmost Caribbean Community member state of Jamaica possesses physical manifestations of 12 hot springs across the island. Previous investigations indicate that of the potential 12 hot springs, Bath, Windsor and Milk River springs have cogent geothermometry of their thermal fluids with estimated temperature ranges of (80–102°C), (128–156°C), and (158–206°C), respectively. The paper provides numerical findings for each geothermal system of interest and performs Monte Carlo simulations to optimize calculated findings. The determined quantitative findings are considered under the context of environmental savings and policy regime conditions for driving geothermal energy development. The three areas of interest are situated within the Rio Minho Basin, the Dry Harbour Mountains and the Blue Mountain South Basin. Through the consideration of a 25-year lifetime for production, a collective total of 94.81 MWe of geothermal power reserves can be absorbed into the national energy mix, displacing an estimated 0.38 million barrels of oil imports, resulting in approximately 0.44 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions being avoided per year.
COFA 2023 Emerges as a Vital Lifeline for the Marshall Islands National Climate Adaptation Effort
Asia Pacific Bulletin
Kalim Shah
2024-12-04
The Compact of Free Association (COFA) between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) provides economic assistance, access to US social programs, and guaranteed defense provisions in exchange for US military access to the strategic Kwajalein Atoll. While the partnership allows the United States to maintain a significant presence in the Pacific, critical for regional security and broader geopolitical interests, it also traditionally provides the RMI with financial support for infrastructure, education, and healthcare, alongside granting certain rights, such as migration privileges to the United States. The 2023 Compact renewal marks a significant shift in how the agreement tackles climate change, reflecting both the RMI’s vulnerability to rising sea levels and the US strategic interest in the Pacific. The potential of this shift is now magnified under the reality of fallen finance commitments from developed nations at COP29 and uncertainty about climate finance as a Trump Administration priority. In addition to economic and defense provisions, the new Compact establishes a Climate Resilience Fund and directs a substantial portion of infrastructure grants toward climate-adaptive projects. By allocating funds specifically for resilience—such as flood defenses, renewable energy, and relocation planning—Washington not only helps the RMI prepare for climate-induced threats but also reinforces its military presence in a region increasingly contested by powers such as China. This evolution of the Compact serves both humanitarian and strategic purposes, securing critical geopolitical interests while ensuring the survival of the RMI. In 2023, after its acceptance by the RMI Cabinet, the National Climate Adaptation Plan (NAP) was launched in Dubai at COP28. It has since garnered international recognition, with media outlets like The Guardian and Hakai Magazine hailing the NAP as a model for Pacific islands, addressing climate threats with a blend of local cultural wisdom and innovative adaptation strategies. The New York Times commended the NAP for its clear-eyed acknowledgment of the risks posed by rising sea levels and its well-structured resilience framework, which includes nature-based solutions and relocation planning. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program emphasized the NAP’s global significance, highlighting its launch as a key moment in addressing climate change in the Pacific.
