The shift to Electric Mobility is part of a global program developed to assist more than fifty low and middle income countries transition from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, which are powered by gasoline or diesel, to electric vehicles (EVs) that run on electricity. This shift is driven by a variety of factors, including environmental concerns, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, advancements in technology, and a desire to decrease dependence on fossil fuels. Currently, four Caribbean islands are direct beneficiaries of this program; Saint
Lucia, Grenada, Jamaica and Antigua And Barbuda.

The program is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as the Implementing Agency and Department of Sustainable Development, Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and vocational Training as the Executing Agency.

With the transport sector being one of Saint Lucia's largest consumers of energy on island, the project is targeted towards the integration of electric mobility within a wider effort towards a sustainable, low carbon and energy system in Saint Lucia. This is in direct alignment with Saint Lucia’s endorsed and updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As articulated in its NDC, Saint Lucia aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 7% by 2030 in the Energy Sector relative to 2010 emissions data. Interventions to achieve this are mitigation focused with a strong emphasis on renewable energy technology, particularly, that of electric vehicles (EVs). The GEF-7 EV project will further build on
governments' previous efforts to decarbonize the transportation sector by use of electric vehicles, as seen through the addition of three EVs to the Government fleet in 2017.

In 2018, an electrification assessment was conducted on the GOSL’s vehicle fleet. hrough this assessment, 131 vehicles were found to be past their life expectancy, presenting a perfect opportunity to be replaced with EVs. The assessment further highlighted the GOSLs commitment to reduce the total cost of ownership of its vehicle fleet by replacing the identified vehicles with EVs instead of regular Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles. This will signal the Government's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint to the general public and in turn, motivate more citizens to make the shift to electric vehicles as well. The other anticipated beneficiaries of the project include the private sector and consumers.

Indirect project beneficiaries would be the public transport sector, which has shown interest in transitioning the bus system towards a mode of E-mobility. The general public is also expected to benefit by way of awareness building on EVs and sustainable mobility.