By César Cañedo-Argüelles, CEO, CIFI
The Caribbean Sustainable Infrastructure Conference 2025, hosted by the Caribbean Development Bank in Bridgetown, Barbados from November 4–6, brought together regional and international experts to advance the region’s development agenda. The event focused on defining practical pathways toward resilient and sustainable infrastructure, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing among key stakeholders.
Turning Vulnerabilities into Opportunities
The Caribbean faces a distinctive dual challenge. Its economies depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as tourism, fisheries, and ports. Much of the region’s infrastructure, including energy, water, transport, and digital connectivity, was designed for different climatic conditions and scales. This disconnect increases the region’s exposure to climate risks and other vulnerabilities.
Yet, these challenges also present opportunities for transformation. By prioritizing resilience in infrastructure design, aggregating regional demand to reduce costs, and adopting innovative financing mechanisms such as debt for climate swaps and blended finance, the Caribbean can accelerate progress toward faster, more affordable, and greener development.
The region already benefits from successful models. Barbados completed a debt for climate swap, Belize launched a Blue Bond, and the IDB introduced the Blue Co-Loan framework. These examples show how creative financial instruments can unlock fiscal space, attract private investment, and directly support climate resilience.
Accelerating Action for Bankable Infrastructure
Looking ahead, it is essential for governments, multilateral development banks, and investors to take swift, pragmatic, and scalable steps to transform ideas into bankable projects.
Governments can play a crucial role by removing policy and regulatory barriers, developing investable pipelines, and leveraging regional aggregation so that even small island states can achieve the necessary scale. Publishing a clear 24–36 month pipeline of shovel-ready, resilient projects with basic feasibility, capital expenditure estimates, expected returns, and procurement plans will help attract investment.
Multilateral development banks should focus on expanding project preparation facilities and deploying targeted de-risking instruments such as guarantees, first-loss tranches, and blended finance vehicles. By coordinating originate-to-share and syndication platforms, these institutions can mobilize larger pools of private capital and convert project pipelines into real investment opportunities.
Investors are encouraged to commit patient capital to blended structures, accept catalytic first-loss tranches where appropriate, and provide longer-tenor local currency financing. Early engagement in project preparation is vital, as it helps shape bankable structures and accelerates the procurement process.
Financing Infrastructure through a Regional Debt Fund
To truly accelerate resilient infrastructure investment in the Caribbean, it is time to move beyond isolated transactions and establish a regional platform. A regional debt fund can standardize financial instruments, pool technical expertise, and mobilize resources at scale, making it easier for countries to access financing and implement impactful projects.
Drawing on CIFI’s experience managing the Sustainable Infrastructure Debt Fund across Latin America and the Caribbean, several practical recommendations emerge for building an effective regional fund:
Integrate Sustainability from the Start: Financial instruments should embed environmental, social, and resilience criteria within their structure. Investors are more likely to commit when these metrics are not an afterthought but a core part of the bond or loan. Linking the use of proceeds to measurable climate or Sustainable Development Goal outcomes helps attract longer-term, lower-cost capital.
Build Strong Partnerships and Governance: Success depends on more than competitive pricing. Establishing clear governance frameworks, ensuring transparency in the use of proceeds, and maintaining independent verification and standardized reporting are essential. Collaboration among governments, multilaterals, and private investors builds trust and drives effective implementation.
Achieve Scale through Regional Collaboration: Small islands often struggle to meet bankable thresholds on their own. By pooling resources and creating regional vehicles, whether for green bonds, blended finance, or resilience funds, the Caribbean can reach critical mass and diversify risk. This approach enables innovation, such as forming a regional Sustainable Debt Facility supported by multilateral partners and backed by a robust pipeline of resilient infrastructure projects.
By following these principles, the Caribbean can unlock the full potential of a regional infrastructure fund, channeling investment into projects that strengthen climate resilience and support sustainable growth across the region.
