T&T’s economy at serious risk from global climate change policies
An excerpt from the Trinidad Guardian Newspaper
T&T does not have a competitive advantage in producing renewable energy.
Hence, the economic prospects for 2070 are grim because the country has not established competitive industries based on renewables and has not prepared its human resource base to be successful in the net-zero world.
Additionally, the per capita GDP in 2070 may be at best $22,000 as many jobs would also be lost.
Further, the country will be impacted significantly by international climate change policies, warned Professor of Practice Andrew Jupiter, University of the West Indies St Augustine and Dr Pedro van Meurs and Van Meurs Energy (VME) in a detailed research paper titled, “Suggested Energy Transition Policy for Trinidad and Tobago, The Next 50 Years,” which was released on June 30, 2021.
They advised that it is crucial therefore, that an optimal policy is defined and implemented to lead T&T through the energy transition over the next four decades as the well-being and wealth of the next generation depend on the success of this policy.