The Belize Sustainable Energy Roadmap 2030 is built on five key pillars:

1. Efficient Energy End-Use (EE): Significantly reducing energy intensities compared to business-as-usual (BAU) in transport, industry, residential and commercial buildings, and public buildings and lighting.
2. Renewable Energy (RE): Transitioning the energy matrix for electricity, heat, and mechanical power away from fossil fuels.
3. Clean Production (CP): Upgrading production systems using outputs from agriculture and forestry for co-production of food, feed, fiber, chemicals, and fuel (including electricity and heat).
4. Governance: Enhancing national capacity in clean energy and clean production.
5. Infrastructure: Ensuring universal access to affordable, modern energy services, including a resilient grid.

The National Energy Policy Framework 2011 (NEP) outlined the basic principles and strategies for integrating energy more deeply into Belize’s development, aiming to make Belize an electricity-exporting country by 2030. The recent “#planBelize, Medium-term development strategy 2022-2026,” aims to transform Belize into a more inclusive and sustainable country through education, innovation, investment, and good governance. It includes several strategic initiatives and specific energy development programs/projects, defining updated government goals.

Belize's existing electricity grid does not cover the entire territory, particularly in the Toledo District in the South, where many remote villages lack access to modern electricity. These villages are unlikely to be connected to the national grid within the next ten years. The absence of electricity hampers the development of these villages and limits the improvement of living conditions for their inhabitants. Installing off-grid solar-powered mini-grids appears to be a solution, which could eventually provide an extra green source of electricity if connected to the grid.

Improving energy efficiency in transport, buildings, streetlights, and industry can significantly contribute to energy savings, benefiting consumers (lower energy bills) and the state (reducing the ~40% of electricity imports from Mexico). Promoting energy-efficient lamps and appliances and energy management in buildings can lead to substantial energy savings.

In the transport sector, increasing the penetration of electric vehicles is highly valued for the environment, especially since most of the electricity used in Belize is produced from green or blue energy sources.

The governance of the energy sector requires strengthening the capacities of its units and personnel, improved policies, and more efficient infrastructure and office equipment. It also needs support for developing horizontal cooperation within the State and further developing international relations and cooperation.

The Intervention “Belize Sustainable Energy Roadmap” aims to support key energy sector stakeholders in Belize by funding projects (Contracts) that can enhance energy efficiency and access to electricity for unserved areas, gradually achieving universal access to electricity from a clean and productive energy sector in Belize. The Intervention is implemented through 10 Contracts identified by the European Union Delegation (EUD) office in Belize in cooperation with competent authorities, with an overall estimated budget of EUR 13.62 million:

1. Three contracts for electricity supply to unserved villages.
2. One contract for e-mobility promotion.
3. Three contracts for the procurement of efficient energy supplies.
4. One contract for a prefeasibility study.
5. One contract for communication and visibility.
6. One contract for technical support to almost all implementing partners and beneficiaries of the above contracts, and for updating the National Energy Policy for Belize.