Coast Funds – An Indigenous-led conservation finance organization created by First Nations, the governments of British Columbia and Canada, and private foundations announced the Renewable Energy for Remote Communities program with the Province of British Columbia today. This initiative, launching in early 2020, will see $7.9 million in new investments made with coastal First Nations towards transitioning their remote communities’ fossil fuel-dependent electrical grids to renewable energy sources.
The new initiative is a key component of the CleanBC plan with a priority of reducing climate pollution by shifting homes, vehicles, industry, and business off burning fossil fuels and toward greater use of clean B.C. electricity and other renewable energies. The Province has partnered with Coast Funds to lead investment with 11 First Nations located within the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii regions, and with Fraser Basin Council to lead investments in diesel-dependent communities in other regions of the province. “New investments under this initiative will further strengthen well-being in remote coastal communities and First Nations’ efforts to protect and steward coastal ecosystems, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and the threat of oil spills in the Great Bear Rainforest and Haida Gwaii.” Huux̱ Percy Crosby, Chair of Coast Funds