Ministry of Finance Official attends Prestigious Oxford Sustainable Finance Executive Programme

The Ministry of Finance official is the only Small Island Developing State participant in elite Oxford cohort

Carlon Knight, Senior Projects Officer in the Project Management Office of the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance, has been selected to participate in the Sustainable Finance Executive Programme at the University of Oxford — ranked the world’s number one university for ten consecutive years by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Running from 6 to 10 July at Oxford’s Rhodes House, the programme is delivered by the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, the world’s largest research and teaching centre dedicated to sustainable finance, under founding Director Dr Ben Caldecott and Senior Associate Dr Alex Money. Mr Knight is the sole representative from a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) and the only participant from the Caribbean in this year’s cohort, joining a select group of finance, policy and sustainability leaders from institutions including the International Sustainability Standards Board, Fidelity International, GFANZ, WWF-UK and the Bank of England.

As Senior Projects Officer, Mr Knight works closely with the Director, Gail Imhoff-Gordon, to oversee and coordinate Antigua and Barbuda’s portfolio of externally funded infrastructure and development projects, including climate finance initiatives supported by the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development, and other multilateral and sovereign financing partners. He also serves as the PMO’s Chief Risk and Compliance Officer.

Mr Knight is also an Adjunct Lecturer at The University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus, where he teaches undergraduate economics courses and convenes a graduate course in Sustainable Finance. In 2024, he was selected as an Alliance of Small Island States Fellow, supporting Antigua and Barbuda’s climate finance negotiating team at COP29 in Baku.

“Programmes like this at a world-leading institution such as Oxford are enormously important for small island developing states like Antigua and Barbuda,” Knight said. “We are on the front line of climate risk, yet we are too often on the margins of the conversations shaping global sustainable finance. Building technical capacity at this level allows us to bring that expertise home and put it to work for our country. I am deeply proud to represent Antigua and Barbuda, and small island states more broadly, as the lone participant in this cohort.”

extended his thanks to Financial Secretary Rasona Davis-Crump and Director Gail Imhoff-Gordon for their confidence in him and their continued support in providing opportunities such as this to build capacity within the Ministry. He also thanked Dr Karen Murdock, Head of the UWI Five Islands School of Business and Management, for recommending his participation, and Ms Denise Gardiner and the Board of Education for their support toward his attendance.

“To the Financial Secretary, my Director, Dr Murdock, Ms Gardiner and the Board of Education — thank you for believing in this and for backing me every step of the way,” he added.

His selection reflects the Government of Antigua and Barbuda’s wider drive to strengthen technical capacity across the public service, with particular emphasis on sustainable and climate finance — an area of growing strategic importance for a country especially exposed to climate-related risk. Officials say continued investment in specialised training at institutions of Oxford’s calibre will be central to equipping the Ministry of Finance to access, structure and manage the climate and development financing the country needs in the years ahead. ENDS

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