ROAD TOWN, Tortola, BVI — A plan by British billionaire Richard Branson to lead a post-hurricane rebuilding effort in the Caribbean, with a focus on clean energy projects, may include debt relief negotiations mediated by the International Monetary Fund.
Branson is spearheading a plan to help nations in the region recover after Hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged several islands.
The centerpiece of the plan is a push to replace outdated fossil-fuel power grids with renewable energy systems that can withstand extreme weather and boost economic development in Caribbean.
For the past month, the founder of the Virgin Group conglomerate has been in talks with some of the world’s top multilateral lenders and foundations to set up a fund to finance what he called the Disaster Recovery Marshall Plan – a reference to a program to rebuild Western Europe after World War Two.
The effort focuses on “a green energy revolution” to make Caribbean economies more sustainable, Branson said.
The businessman has lived in the British Virgin Islands for more than a decade and weathered Hurricane Irma inside a cellar on Necker, his private island.
“We want to move the Caribbean countries into clean energy and make them more sustainable, which will make dealing with hurricanes much easier,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview in Miami.