Racquel Moses Explained

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Racquel Moses is a Global Ambassador for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Chief Executive Officer for the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator (CCSA).[1] Moses has represented the region at COP26-28, presenting a climate scorecard for rating the status and progress of countries at COP26 and a climate smart map for the Caribbean region at COP28.

Through the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, Moses connects governments, countries, funders, investors, technology developers and stakeholders to support a wide range of development and implementation initiatives in the Caribbean region. Projects have included public transit systems, use of electric or hydrogen for vehicles, food sustainability, remediation of plastic waste, plastics reuse in concrete, and sustainable use of ocean resources.[2] [3]

Early life and education

Racquel Goddard (later Moses) was born in Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago. She attended Bishop Anstey High School and pursued interests in organizational psychology and law before completing her Masters in Management of Technology at the Georgia Institute of Technology[4] in 2000.

Moses is a marathon runner.

Career

Under her maiden name of Racquel Goddard, Moses was regional vice-president for Enterprise Sales at LIME Jamaica in 2012[5] and regional vice-president for Fujitsu Caribbean. In Jamaica, she founded iDaedle Consulting Ltd. As Managing Director of iDaedle she was selected to attend the 5th Global Forum on Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship, held by infoDev in East London, South Africa in 2013.[6] [7]

Moses became President of the Investment Promotion Agency of Trinidad & Tobago (InvesTT) as of November 25, 2013.[8] Moses improved the agency's World Bank score by 77%, receiving awards that acknowledged the agency's world-class performance under her leadership.

By 2017, Moses was serving as Head of Microsoft Trinidad and Tobago.[9] [10] By 2018, she was regional director for the public sector of Microsoft Caribbean.[11]

In 2017, Moses was appointed to the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC)[12] which she has served on the Executive Board and as a Trustee.[13] In March 2024, she delivered the feature address at the ninth Sport Industry TT Conference of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee. The conference theme was "The Environmental Impact of Sport".[14]

Moses decided to focus on addressing climate change after the birth of her daughter in 2018.[4] Formation of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator (CCSA) was announced on August 9, 2018 with support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Virgin Group, and the World Bank,[15] in part as a response to the devastation of Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. As of January 9, 2019, Moses became CEO of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator.[16]

CCSA became a nonprofit entity as of 2020. The coalition represents 28 Caribbean countries[17] and more than 40 million people. At the accelerator, Moses works to match climate smart projects with different types of philanthropic funding: grant funding, loan funding and investment funding. CCSA also supports projects through its financial advisory committee and forums for investors.[18] [19] CCSA acts as an official nominator for the yearly Earthshot Prize.[20]

Moses works with the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) and its Island Resilience Action Challenge (IRAC), which was formed in 2019.[21] [22] [23] IRAC is a yearly initiative bringing together island stakeholders together to build consensus and act on solutions to address climate change. IRAC is supported by the Advanced Energy Group and the Caribbean Development Bank.

One of IRAC's initiatives has been the development of a resilience scorecard that can be used to assess both the commitments and accomplishments of countries in adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Moses shared the scorecard internationally at COP26.[24] [25] A further step has been the development of a climate smart map which tracks climate action data from 28 countries in the Caribbean region.[26] [27] The map was developed through a partnership between CCSA and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) and announced by Moses and others at COP28 in Dubai.[28] [29]

At COP28, in addition to presenting innovative solutions and advocating for financing for climate-resilience, Moses supported the implementation of the Loss and Damage Fund.[30] The Caribbean region is a net contributor of less than 1% of global carbon emissions, but suffers disproportionately from adverse weather events. Damage in the region accounts for nearly 40% of total global damage. There is strong support for conversion to renewable energy sources and energy independence in the region. Over half of Caribbean countries aim to produce over 50% of electricity from renewables and 10 countries aim to produce 100% of their electricity from renewables. Costa Rica had achieved its goal of 100% renewable energy and Suriname had achieved its goal of 35% as of 2023.[31]

As of 2021, Moses was chosen as a Global Ambassador for the United Nations' Race to Zero & Race to Resilience. Other Global Ambassadors included Michael Bloomberg, Susan Chomba, and Saleemul Huq.[32] Moses was the only one of the Global Ambassadors to come from a Small Island Developing State (SIDS).[33]

Moses has served on the jury of the Island Innovation Awards, first given by Island Innovation and the Clinton Global Initiative in 2021.[34]

Awards and honors

Notes and References

  1. News: Trailblazing Women in Climate 2024 - Racquel Moses . Reuters . March 7, 2024.
  2. News: Ragoonath . Reshma . UN ambassador urges Caribbean to go green . Cayman Compass . 24 November 2022.
  3. Web site: Hay . Nick . Racquel Moses: “We can do it. Having been the canary in the coalmine... we must save ourselves" . Climate Champions . Race to Zero. 19 October 2023 . en .
  4. News: Fraser . Fayola K J . 2023-07-09 . Working for the future of our planet–Racquel Moses tackles new challenges headfirst . The Guardian . en.
  5. Web site: January 22, 2012 . Snapshot . 2024-07-20 . The Jamaica Gleaner . en.
  6. Book: infoDev 2012-2013 Annual Report. 2014 . 48 . World Bank. Washington, DC.
  7. News: Ereira . Eleanor . Caribbean women entrepreneurs: Smashing down walls to get to the top . World Bank Blogs . July 29, 2013.
  8. Web site: 2013-12-05 . New president appointed at InvesTT . 2024-07-20 . Trinidad and Tobago Guardian . en.
  9. News: Deployment of the Water Quality Monitoring Buoy in Claxton Bay . IMA NEWS . 2. 7. 5 . 2017.
  10. Web site: Greaves . Debra . 2017-11-09 . New technology to detect sea pollution . 2024-07-20 . Trinidad and Tobago Newsday . en-US.
  11. Web site: Brathwaite . Deidre . 26 Apr 2022 . Investment opportunities in the Caribbean – Ms. Racquel Moses . 2024-07-19 . Caribbean Export Development Agency . en.
  12. Web site: 2017-06-01 . President Carmona installs gender-equal TTOC executive committee for 2017-2020 . 2024-07-20 . Wired868 . en-US.
  13. Web site: Iveson . Ali . 30 April 2022 . Henderson takes over as TTOC President following historic election . 2024-07-19 . Inside The Games.
  14. Web site: Walcott . Roneil . 2024-03-07 . Climate change to take focus at TTOC Sport Industry Conference . 2024-07-20 . Trinidad and Tobago Newsday . en-US.
  15. Web site: Caribbean Aims to Become World's First Climate-Smart Zone . 2024-07-19 . World Bank . en.
  16. Web site: 2020-01-01 . The Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator Announces Racquel Moses as CEO . 2024-07-20 . Investable Oceans.
  17. News: Byrne . Kennedy . Creating a climate-smart Caribbean Alum leads accelerator to create the world’s first climate-smart zone . Microsoft Alumni Network.
  18. News: Best . Klysha . Racquel Moses: Connecting the dots of climate change . CatholicTT . June 14, 2023.
  19. News: Two join Climate Smart Accelerator board of directors . Business Authority . 2023.
  20. Web site: Ramkhalawan . Kimberly . November 22, 2022 . CCSA HIGHLIGHTS WINS AND LOSSES FOLLOWING COP27 - CaribMagPlus . 2024-07-20 . en-US.
  21. News: Kelly . Clare . Breaking renewable energy barriers in the Caribbean Virgin . Virgin.com . 11 November 2020 . en.
  22. Web site: 2022-12-06 . Caribbean Blended Finance for Resilience (CBFR) Fund Mobilised . 2024-07-19 . Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator . en.
  23. Web site: 2020-11-02 . $100M Fund mulled for Caribbean Renewable Energy projects . 2024-07-20 . Village Voice News . en-US.
  24. Web site: 2021-11-10 . Interview with Racquel Moses, United Nations Global Ambassador for the Caribbean at COP26 . 2024-07-20 . ACP . en-US.
  25. Web site: Island Resilience Action Challenge (IRAC) . 2024-07-20 . Island Resilience Action Challenge . en-US.
  26. Web site: Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator unveils climate smart Loop Jamaica . 2024-07-20 . Loop News . en.
  27. News: Caribbean Climate-Smart accelerator unveils groundbreaking Climate Smart Map at COP28 - Jamaica Observer . Jamaica Observer . 2 December 2023.
  28. Web site: Bartlett . Joey . 2024-01-04 . New climate smart map on the way . 2024-07-20 . Trinidad and Tobago Newsday . en-US.
  29. Web site: 2024-01-02 . PwC, CCSA to create world’s first Climate-Smart Zone in the Caribbean . 2024-07-20 . St Vincent Times . en-US.
  30. Web site: Kentish . Alison . 2023-12-19 . Caribbean Confidence High Post COP28, But Vigilant Follow-Through on Key Deals Needed . 2024-07-20 . Global Issues . en-gb.
  31. Web site: 2023-09-08 . Caribbean off target in meeting goals on renewable transition . 2024-07-20 . Barbados Today . en-US.
  32. News: Diringer . Vincent . Racquel Moses Appointed Newest United Nations Global Ambassador for Race to Zero & Race to Resilience . Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) . 21 October 2021.
  33. News: 2021: The Year a Small Team Made Big Impact on Regional Climate Action . Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator . 1 March 2022 . en.
  34. News: Foster . Sarah . Calls for Cayman Islands to apply for Island Innovation Awards, launched by President Bill Clinton to celebrate success in sustainability initiatives . IEyeNews . 19 October 2021.
  35. Web site: Board of Advisors - Participate . Advanced Energy Group.