Leonce to focus on renewable energy in ministry post

While he is aware of the added responsibilities of his appointment as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities, Adrian Leonce said he is up for the challenge and intends to focus on including energy-saving initiatives and adopt a more environmentally friendly approach to development.

Speaking with Newsday at a ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Express Mail Service, at TTPost's Piarco office yesterday, Leonce said he was happy to be part of the ministry and vowed to commit himself to implementing more energy-efficient policies to save costs and the environment.

"We're working on energy efficiency and incorporating that into our structure in a legal framework, and we hope to change the culture in where we are as a people, so I'm hoping to get some headway into that.

"The government wants to change the culture. We want to be able to give encouragement to different things related to energy efficiency, with respect to the types of equipment used and the ways used to cool your building or house. We want to encourage people to change their attitudes and become more conscious of reducing their carbon footprint."

Leonce said these goals were government's sustainable development goals for Vision 2030 and one of the mandates of the Paris Accord to raise public awareness on reducing greenhouse emissions.