Impelled by the urgency demonstrated by COP26, SAEDI Consulting Barbados Inc, joins other private, public and non-governmental partners in, pledging to achieve #NetZero emissions by 2030.

We are a young company incorporated just August 2021. Despite this, we feel that we should start as we mean to continue i.e. walk the talk that drives our business and social impact agenda.

As a virtual team, emissions related to our work are already low. We all work from home and have not travelled for SAEDI business in the last 20 months. But due to our global practice, air travel will be one of the most challenging areas for us.  However, there are no jets in our immediate future.  

We pledge to limit travel to essential only and to maximize the platforms and spaces to engage virtually.

As social and environmental impact specialists, we value of face-to-face engagement but we will be strategic on this.

Our pledge goes beyond emissions neutrality! We also pledge to do our work in a gender-responsive way and to contribute tools and guidance that can help others. We pledge to engage with unserved and underserved groups on concrete ideas and actions to help them be an active and visible part of #climatejourney and beyond.

We like and support the recommendations of SAGE, ICC and ACCA on the need to include us Small and Medium Businesses (and let us not forget micro business as well) and to make it easier for us to participate and make meaningful contributions to the #Race2NetZero. The same should apply to #climatefinance #SDGs and other areas of collective action.   We are many and we are mighty. Many of us are women-owned.

We call on those at #COP26 and #COP26Glasgow to emphasize the need to better representation of and by women. Not just women at high levels but women with diverse lived experiences. Women leaders are a powerful symbol. But more is needed. Women brought to the table must be able and accommodated in expressing their lived experiences as women and those of other women.

Financing must include quotas for women-only adaption activities and women-focused carbon neutrality opportunities. Investments should be, at a minimum, #genderresponsive and #climatebudget ready. Nothing less is acceptable at this stage #EqualityCantWait  #BridgeTheGenderandEnvtGap #FixtheSystemNotWomen.

Make climate finance more accessible and controllable by #peopleontheground #peopleonthefrontlines, who need it most. Make it simple. Make it adaptable. Make it intersectional. Make it sustained for at least the next ten years. Finance should also be complemented by de-risking solutions and insurance. Climate finance itself should be protected from climate risks.   

At the national and local level, climate financing must be more flexible and sensitive to the differentiated needs and responsibilities of men and women as well as those with different gender identities. Make it so that one’s gender does not determine if and how much support you receive.

2030 is not an end, it is a transition point, if we get things right. The hard work and unrelenting drive required to pull us back to 1.5 degrees globally, must continue beyond 2030.

SAEDI Consulting Barbados Inc, pledges to work with the Government and people of the Barbados and with governments and peoples around the world, particularly #SIDS, through relevant work, shared ideas, enabling conversations, and inclusive partnerships to drive finance and insurance solutions to where they are needed.

Join us on our journey as we join you in yours!