Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have a “critical role” to play in ensuring sustainable development, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (URCA) policy director believes.

Stephen Bereaux

said that as the regulator’s role expands to sectors such as electricity and renewable energy, it will be critical to ensure they are developed in a sustainable way.

Speaking with Tribune Business at the fifth International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Green Standards Week conference, Mr Bereaux said: “Our role at URCA is to ensure that our sectors do as much as they can to promote the issues that would have come out of the Paris agreement.

“The Paris agreement cites some targets and, as the country signs on and adopts, URCA will continue  to support that. There are a vast number of areas where ICTs can positively impact how we develop, and help to ensure that we develop sustainably.

“Sustainable development comes with urban planning, but also the partnership with information and communication technologies is where we hopefully find a sweet spot where we can continue to promote development and offer more without destroying the environment in the process.”

The aim of the Paris Agreement adopted by the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees celcius above pre-industrial levels, and also pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.

Mr Bereaux noted that as a fairly low, archipelagic nation, climate change is a “massive issue” for the Bahamas. 

“There is never too much that we can do. As we move to take on electricity and other sectors, it becomes critical to ensure that those sectors are developed in a sustainable way,” he said.

“As we look at renewables we have to also consider how ICTs can assist with renewable development, smart meters in electricity. There are all sorts of things that can be done to create synergies that can further drive environmentally sustainable development for the Bahamas.”