BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Five Caribbean women have received awards for their outstanding contributions to energy and climate resilience in the Caribbean.

The women received the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) sponsored, Caribbean Community (Caricom) Women in Sustainable Energy (WISE) award during the recently held 16th Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) held in Miami. They were chosen from a pool of 12 nominees.

The women honoured are Purdy Gouveia, project manager at the Caribbean Utilities Company in the Cayman Islands, who received the award for utilities and industry, and Kerryne James, Grenada’s minister of climate resilience, The Environment and Renewable Energy, who was recognised as a youth leader.

Dr Ruth Potopsingh, associate vice president of Sustainable Energy at the University of Technology Jamaica, got the nod for policy and regulations while Angella Rainford, the chief executive officer of Founder Soléco Energy Jamaica was cited for her contribution to business, entrepreneurship, and finance.

Belizean Rachel Sedacy, a marketer and business consultant, Fifth Element Consulting/LAIT Up Belize, was lauded for Social Impact, Community and Advocacy.

In addition, Dr Indra Haraksingh, a lecturer at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) received a Caricom WISE Lifetime Achievement Award.

CDB Acting President, Isaac Solomon, said the region’s premier financial institution supported the awards scheme because of the importance of promoting gender equality to encourage women to pursue careers in the energy sector which remains one of the most imbalanced in terms of female representation.

“Female-headed households and businesses owned by women may face financial constraints in investing in energy and renewable energy technologies and in this regard, CDB continues to integrate gender equality consideration to address the inequitable access by women in the sector. CDB’s funding support is in keeping with the bank’s policy and strategy for the promotion of gender equality in all sectors,” Solomon said.

Solomon also reaffirmed CDB’s commitment to advancing sustainable energy in the Caribbean, noting that since 2015, the bank has approved an estimated US$275 million for over 65 sustainable energy projects, representing 10 per cent of its total funding.

CDB financed streetlight retrofitting projects in six Caribbean countries including Jamaica, where 25,000 LED streetlights were installed, which was the world’s largest installation at the time.

The bank has also implemented a GeoSmart Initiative to assist Eastern Caribbean countries in utilising geothermal energy from their volcanic landscapes.