For Immediate Release
20 November 2025
Belém, Brazil
The Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE) has officially joined the Global Gender and Energy Compact, marking a transformative milestone for the organization’s commitment to a gender-responsive and inclusive energy transition. The announcement was made on 17 November 2025 during CCREEE’s COP30 session at the CARICOM Pavilion titled, “From Transition to Transformation: Centering Women, Youth, and Communities in the Caribbean’s Energy Transition.”
The high-level discussion, moderated by Dr. Mohammed Rafik M.S. Nagdee, Executive Director of CCREEE, featured regional indigenous and youth leaders including Mr. Nigel Maduro, Youth Climate and Heritage Leader, Indigenous Caquetío Nation of Aruba; Ms. Reene Smith, Project Officer (Marine Biologist), Ministry of Climate Resilience, The Environment & Renewable Energy, Grenada; Ms. Lisana Dyer, Senior Policy Adviser, Ministry of Environment, Rural Modernisation and Kalinago Upliftment, Dominica; and Ms. Kiesha Farnum, Head of Partnerships & Programmes at CCREEE. Together, they underscored that building a resilient, equitable, and people-centred energy future for Caribbean SIDS must be grounded in lived experience, cultural context, and community leadership.
During the event, CCREEE outlined how its commitment to the Gender and Energy Compact reflects a broader strategic alignment, thinking globally while acting locally. By joining the Compact, CCREEE positions the Caribbean within a global movement that transforms high-level commitments into locally relevant, measurable actions. This approach ensures that international norms on gender equality, energy access, and inclusion are adapted for SIDS contexts, addressing island-specific realities such as resource vulnerability, the role of SMEs, indigenous knowledge, and the lived experiences of women, youth, and frontline communities. CCREEE will continue to work as a regional mechanism responsible for embedding gender equality not as an aspirational principle, but as an operational standard across Caribbean energy policy, planning, capacity development, entrepreneurship, and workforce readiness.
A central feature of this alignment is the integration of the Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network into CCREEE. With WIRE now under CCREEE’s stewardship, the Caribbean has a fully established, culturally resonant vehicle for delivering the Compact’s ambitions. WIRE already mirrors the Compact’s core pillars, making it the region’s flagship mechanism for gender responsive energy action. Its leadership development model combines mentorship and executive coaching to strengthen leadership identity, cross-country collaboration, communication, negotiation, and decision-making, directly advancing the Compact’s goals related to women’s visibility, influence, and leadership in energy.
WIRE further supports the transition through internationally certified technical training to be delivered in partnership with RENAC with support from the Global Network of Sustianble Energy Centres (GN-SEC) network. These micro-credentialed, flexible, mobile-friendly courses are tailored to SIDS conditions and prepare women for technical roles and green jobs, advancing the Compact’s emphasis on equitable workforce participation. Additionally, WIRE’s targeted training for women-led SMEs helps participants adopt green business models, integrate energy efficiency, access green and gender-responsive finance, and strengthen sustainability reporting and branding. This promotes the Compact’s focus on women’s entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic empowerment across the clean energy value chain.
The WIRE Network also strengthens the region’s long-term capacity through youth-focused programming that introduces girls to STEM and energy pathways, building a gender-responsive talent pipeline consistent with the Compact’s intergenerational mandate. Its experiential study tours further enhance learning, allowing Caribbean women to observe diverse energy systems globally and bring SIDS-relevant insights directly back to the region. Together, these components place the Caribbean in a stronger position within the global gender-energy ecosystem, supported by expanded access to GN-SEC opportunities, GWNET resources, and CARICOM Energy Knowledge Hub (CEKH) materials.
CCREEE also highlighted joining the membership of the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition (GWNET). GWNET’s mandate to empower women globally in the energy transition, aligns seamlessly with both WIRE and the Gender and Energy Compact. Through this alignment, CCREEE can facilitate mentorship exchanges that connect GWNET’s global network of women energy professionals with the Caribbean’s regional leadership pipeline. This creates structured opportunities for south–south and triangular cooperation, enabling knowledge transfer between the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, especially among other SIDS. There are opportunities for GWNET’s leadership and technical resources to be adapted to the Caribbean context and deployed through WIRE’s programme structure.
With WIRE now embedded within CCREEE, the benefits of joining the Compact become immediate and far-reaching for the region. WIRE already operationalizes many of the Compact’s action pillars, allowing CCREEE to translate global commitments into tangible Caribbean results quickly. Through GWNET and the Compact, Caribbean women and youth gain increased visibility and access to global leadership spaces, ensuring more equitable participation from small island states. As WIRE strengthens the Caribbean’s workforce through training, mentorship, enterprise support, and youth engagement, the region becomes better positioned to build a resilient and just energy transition. The alignment also enhances CCREEE’s ability to mobilize gender-responsive financing and partnerships, as funders increasingly prioritize initiatives with strong inclusion frameworks. Meanwhile, WIRE’s experiential and mentorship activities deepen SIDS-to-SIDS cooperation, reinforcing the Caribbean’s role in advancing global south leadership within the Compact.
Speaking at the session, Dr. Mohammed A. Nagdee, Executive Director of CCREEE, emphasized the significance of the moment:
“Joining the Gender and Energy Compact is both a global commitment and a regional promise. It demonstrates the Caribbean’s leadership in placing gender equality, youth empowerment, and community resilience at the heart of the energy transition. With WIRE now integrated into CCREEE’s work, we are accelerating pathways for women and girls to thrive as leaders, innovators, and decision-makers across our energy landscape.”
Ms. Kiesha Farnum, CCREEE’s Head of Partnerships & Programmes, highlighted the region’s global role:
“The Caribbean is demonstrating what it truly means to think globally and act locally. By aligning CCREEE, WIRE, and the Gender and Energy Compact, we are building an inclusive, people-centred energy future that reflects our island realities and strengthens resilience. This commitment ensures that women, youth, and indigenous voices are not just included but empowered.”
With this announcement, CCREEE reinforces its leadership across CARICOM and the global SIDS community. Through the Gender and Energy Compact, the WIRE Network, and strengthened cooperation with GWNET and GN-SEC, the Caribbean is poised to shape a more equitable, resilient, and transformative energy future.
