This paper was prepared to guide the first session of the training workshop Introduction to Financial Feasibility Assessment of EE and RE Projects in the Caribbean. It explores two potential reasons that might be hindering the adoption of energy efficiency policies in the Caribbean. The first reason is related to the availability of primary infrastructure. Countries with deficits on their primary infrastructure might not consider energy efficiency policies as a priority for a national discussion. The second reason is debt overhang. In this type of scenario, countries might be dissuaded to cond…
A proposal to address the Caribbean’s high debt burden and strategies to achieve sustainable development in the region will be the focus of discussions when two important meetings of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC): the Caribbean Development Roundtable (CDR) and the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) convene in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, on 21 and 22 April 2016, respectively.
The CDR brings together senior level policymakers from governments of the Caribbean; officials of the United Nations system; representatives of regiona…
This document synthesizes the most pertinent findings of a survey of over 41 container terminals around the world of which 30 are located in Latin America and the Caribbean and represent 1/3 of the regional annual container throughput in 2014.
The results are part of a global study on energy consumption in terminals and ports of all kinds. Follow ‐ up publications including a larger set of countries as well as with specifications for bulk cargo, liquids and gas are under way. Furthermore, sub ‐ regional and national seminars are envisaged over the course of the year to present the study’s resu…
Welcome remarks by Antonio Prado, Deputy Executive Secretary of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
FORUM ON THE FUTURE OF THE CARIBBEAN
Port of Spain, 5-7 May 2015
Excellencies, academic staff, ladies and gentlemen,
This is my first time in the Caribbean and it is a pleasure to be in Port of Spain and especially at the celebrated University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus.
Today, the Caribbean, like Latin America, is facing a future fraught with challenges and uncertainty. It is unclear whether the models and strategies that have d…
Despite its active embrace of trade liberalization and the maintainance of relatively open economies, CARICOM trade performance both within the region and extraregionally has been poor. The nexus between bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Partial Scope Agreements (PSAs) and preferential trade arrangements, which was intended to assist in compensating for the small size of domestic and regional markets, while providing an additional tier of trade and economic integration, has thus far failed to deliver its intended results. This paper makes this conclusion in assessing the performance of t…
This paper analyzes Joan Robinson's growth model and then adapts it in order to provide an explanatory taxonomy of Growth Eras. The Growth Eras or Ages were for Robinson a way to provide logical connections between output growth, capital accumulation, the degree of thriftiness, the real wage and illustrate a catalogue of growth possibilities. This modified taxonomy follows the spirit of Robinson's work, but it takes different theoretical approaches. which imply that some of the classifications do not fit perfectly the ones here suggested.
Latin America has moved from a Golden Age in …
Much analysis and proposals on sustainable transport policies have been developed around the world, both at government and research institutions. It is clear that no action will provide the single solution and it is imperative to act simultaneously on: i) improvement of technology in vehicles, leading to increased energy efficiency; ii) the change in driver behavior, to use less fuel per kilometer; iii) reducing the distances traveled per vehicle; and iv) a change in the type of travels towards more sustainable modes of transport.In general, the recommendations for energy efficiency in transpo…
There is an increasing acknowledgement of the key role of services for technological upgrading and increasing value added in manufacturing and primary goods value chains. Over the past two decades, Central American countries have experienced significant export growth. Yet exports have not been an engine of sustained economic growth and employment generation. Agro-industry exports, in particular, frequently incorporate only scant domestic value, with limited or no industrial transformation at all. This paper aims at studying the role of professional and supporting services in increasing domesti…
Guyana, like many CARICOM countries continues to depend on imported oil that fuels the electricity and transport sectors. Simultaneously, the high level of expenditure on oil reduces the financial resources available to invest in social development, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and improving food security. The electricity sector in Guyana, in particular, offers significant opportunities for achieving reductions in fossil imports. However, fiscal and regulatory barriers to energy efficiency and renewable energy use are apparent in Guyana.
This document seeks to identif…
Twelve years into the 21st Century, Caribbean countries continue to face considerable challenges on their path towards sustainable development and the creation of a post-2015 agenda. These include redefining their niche in the global market place in line with significant shifts in global production systems and trade, recovering from burdensome fiscal deficits and coping with climate change and the negative effects of more frequent natural disasters. In some countries poverty levels are increasing after years of decline. Most have defined a vision for development into the next 20 years, but in …
Belize is currently faced with several critical challenges associated with the production, distribution and use of energy. Despite an abundance of renewable energy resources, the country remains disproportionately dependent on imported fossil fuels, which exposes it to volatile and rising oil prices, limits economic development, and retards its ability to make the investments that are necessary for adapting to climate change, which pose a particularly acute threat to the small island states and low-lying coastal nations of the Caribbean.
This transition from energy consumption and supply patte…
The current energy systems within Curaçao depend primarily on high cost, imported fossil fuels, and typically constitute power sectors that are characterized by small, inefficient generation plants which result in high energy prices. As a consequence of its dependence on external fuel supplies, Curaçao is extremely vulnerable to international oil price shocks, which can impact on economic planning and foreign direct investment within their industrial sectors. The ability of the successive governments to source capital for economic stimulation and social investment is therefore significantly ch…
The increasing prominence of developing countries in the world economy reects not only their economic dynamism but also stronger links through increased South-South trade, investment and cooperation. Developing countries in both Latin America and East Asia must act proactively to prepare themselves for this new scenario, adjusting their policies and strategies so as to take advantage of the growing potential of South-South links. In this regard, authorities from both regions should redouble their efforts to identify and capitalize upon their potential complementarities, by creating biregional …
In the midst of one of the worst economic crises the Western world has faced,
governments are focusing on macroeconomic equilibrium and failing to address
the economy-environment disconnect and the social components of development.
The ecological degradation of our planet and its implications for human well-being
necessitate a sustainable approach. Although some progress has been made since
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, we have
yet to adopt a development path that takes account of the way that ecosystems
work or the persistent social and gender inequalit…
This report presents the results of the second survey of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from Chile, carried out by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Institute of International Studies of the University of Chile (IEI), and the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC), a joint center of Columbia Law School and The Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York. The survey, conducted in 2012, covers the period 2011 and was undertaken in the framework of the Emerging Markets Global Players (EMGP) project, an init…
Using the results of seven nationally and regionally representative household surveys, this study analyzes the impact of trade liberalization on wage inequality through a channel in which applied tariffs, owing to the preferential margin given under numerous preferential trade agreements, would affect industry wage premiums during the 1992-2006 period in Chile. I find the skill premiums for high-skilled workers there to have decreased, especially after 2000; this circumstance is unlike that seen in most other Latin American countries or during Chile's initial reform period. The results of…
Climate change poses special challenges for Caribbean decision makers related to the uncertainties inherent in future climate projections and the complex linkages between climate change, physical and biological systems,
and socioeconomic sectors. At present, however, the Caribbean subregion lacks the adaptive capacity needed
to address these challenges.
The present report assesses the economic and social impacts of climate change on the coastal and
marine sector in the Caribbean until 2050. It aims both to provide Caribbean decision makers with cutting edge
information on the vulnerability to …
The swift expansion of developing Asia is probably the most significant structural change in the world economy of the twenty-first century. Latin America, and in particular South America, have strongly benefited from developing Asia’s surge. China has become one of the region’s main trade partners. Despite their benefits, strengthened trans-Pacific economic relations have also become a cause for concern in Latin America, due to major imbalances of different kinds.
The purpose of this book is twofold. On the one hand, it aims to document the growing investment and trade relations between Latin …
The ICMS represents the most important source of revenue for the Brazilian states and one of the most important taxes in Brazil. Unlike other VATs in the world, the ICMS is not collected by the central government. The ICMS is collected by the states (the intermediate level of government), which are able to fix the internal rates; a situation that reflects the fiscal autonomy of the different levels of government in Brazil. Similarly, the direct and unconditional transfers of 25% of the ICMS collection to the municipalities (the local level) show the high degree of autonomy at the sub–national …
The study aims at unveiling the potential of smart grids technology deployment in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Regions. Founding on a general discussion of the smart grids functionalities and on the description of the progressive evolution of an electricity system from the present state towards the full deployment of smart grids concept, the study puts the concept into the LAC context through the preliminary analysis of the present situation in six representative countries. Challenges and opportunities for the evolution of the local systems towards smart grids are pointed out, mot…