What happens when the places contributing least to climate change are forced to confront its consequences first? Across the world’s small islands, rising seas, intensifying storms, fragile supply chains, and volatile energy costs are no longer future threats; they are reshaping everyday life in real time. From the Caribbean to the North Atlantic, island communities are being pushed to adapt faster than almost anywhere else on Earth. Yet despite facing remarkably similar challenges, many islands have historically tackled them in isolation; divided by geography, politics, and limited access to finance. That is the gap Island Innovation was created to bridge.
Written by Eddie James
Founded by James Ellsmoor in 2018, Island Innovation has evolved into one of the leading global platforms connecting island governments, businesses, researchers, and sustainability practitioners. Its mission is simple but ambitious: to ensure islands are no longer solving the same problems alone.
“We really started as a platform to connect people from islands of all different jurisdiction types around the world to share common challenges and common solutions,” Ellsmoor explains.
From Shetland to Hawaii, islands may differ in culture, geography, and governance, but many operate under the same constraints: isolation, small populations, dependence on imported resources, and exposure to climate shocks. “Waste disposal systems or plastic management solutions are designed for a certain scale,” says Ellsmoor. “If you try and apply those models directly in a small island context, they often need to be completely redesigned to reflect the realities of island communities.”
Why Islands Matter
Island states and territories are often discussed solely through the lens of vulnerability. Yet Island Innovation is helping reshape that narrative by positioning islands as testing grounds for some of the world’s most innovative sustainability solutions. Renewable energy has become one of the clearest examples.
A lot of what we have is just inertia,” Ellsmoor says. “If you were to build a new society from scratch on a remote island, you would do that renewable-energy based from purely economic reasons, forgetting climate change.” For island economies heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, the economics are increasingly undeniable. Diesel-powered electricity grids are expensive, vulnerable to disruption, and often environmentally damaging to the very ecosystems tourism industries rely upon.
And for Ellsmoor, renewable energy is not simply about mitigation. “I mean, it’s not either or,” he says of the adaptation-versus-mitigation debate. “Adaptation and mitigation are two sides of the same coin.” He points to decentralised renewable microgrids as a prime example. While often categorised as climate mitigation infrastructure, they are equally an adaptation tool for hurricane-prone regions.
“If you’re a hurricane-prone island, actually moving your grid system towards decentralised microgrids is going to make you way more adapted to a major disaster.” This systems-based thinking sits at the centre of Island Innovation’s philosophy. Sustainability on islands cannot be separated into neat categories. “You can’t just think about energy without looking at how that connects to tourism, transportation, waste, infrastructure,” Ellsmoor explains. “Everything is linked.”
Tourism, Dependency, and the Climate Dilemma
Nowhere is this interconnectedness more visible than in island tourism economies.
“The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world,” Ellsmoor notes. “There are some countries that have up to 90% of their economy driven by tourism.” That dependency creates a paradox. Tourism generates vital income, yet it often relies heavily on aviation, imported goods, and infrastructure systems that increase environmental pressures.
The challenge is particularly stark in places like Maldives, where economic survival depends on air travel while climate vulnerability continues to intensify. “If you brought in very strict flying rules globally, their economy would be decimated,” Ellsmoor explains. Rather than simplistic solutions, Island Innovation advocates for balanced transitions that recognise economic realities while accelerating sustainability.
“The green side of things is good for business,” Ellsmoor says. “If you’re very dependent on tourism, building a big fossil fuel power plant will not fit well with your brochure. For many islands, the transition is not only driven by climate targets but also by competitiveness, affordability, and energy security.” Across many island economies, sustainability is no longer viewed as an optional environmental initiative. It is becoming a core economic strategy.
The Jurisdiction Factor
One of the most overlooked barriers facing islands is governance itself.
Island Innovation frequently works with territories, autonomous regions, and subnational islands that exist in complex political relationships with mainland governments. These jurisdictions often fall into policy and funding gaps, too autonomous to qualify for certain national support mechanisms, but lacking the sovereignty required to access international climate finance independently.
“Every island more or less has a unique relationship with its mainland,” Ellsmoor explains. This “jurisdiction factor” can dramatically shape resilience outcomes. During COVID-19, islands connected to larger mainland economies often had greater access to financial support, subsidies, and emergency assistance. Fully independent island economies dependent on tourism were in many cases devastated.
Island Innovation has responded by helping establish the Subnational Island Jurisdiction Coalition (SNIJ Coalition), which advocates for territories that struggle to access climate adaptation funding. The coalition works with islands such as Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Curaçao to help unlock financing for renewable energy transitions and climate resilience projects.
“These islands have got ambition,” says Ellsmoor. “They have a pathway. This not only makes sense for the islands themselves, but these can be lighthouses to demonstrate technology that can have wider applicability.”
One major focus is supporting clean-energy transitions that are financially modest on a European scale but transformative locally. “We’re not talking about massive amounts of money,” Ellsmoor explains. “The transition needed on those islands in an EU budget is around the error margin.”
Building a Global Island Network
At the heart of Island Innovation’s work is connection. Its annual Global Sustainable Islands Summit brings together governments, businesses, NGOs, universities, and community leaders from across the world’s island regions.
Hosted each year in partnership with a different island government, the summit has become an increasingly influential forum for collaboration and practical action. Previous hosts have included Saint Kitts and Nevis and Prince Edward Island, while this year’s summit took place in Gran Canaria in April. For Ellsmoor, the value of the summit lies not simply in discussion, but in the projects and partnerships that emerge afterwards. “We actually see that turning into collaborations between different regions, which has been really exciting.”
Island Innovation’s growing influence reflects a broader shift occurring across island regions worldwide. Increasingly, islands are no longer waiting for mainland solutions. They are developing their own models for renewable energy, climate adaptation, sustainable tourism, mobility, and circular economies.
And because islands operate as highly visible, interconnected systems, successful innovations can often be replicated quickly elsewhere.
A Blueprint for Resilience
What makes Island Innovation compelling is that it treats islands not as isolated problems to be solved, but as globally relevant models for resilience. On islands, the consequences of poor infrastructure, fragile supply chains, and climate vulnerability are impossible to ignore. But equally, the benefits of innovation are often felt faster and more visibly than in larger mainland economies.
Whether through renewable microgrids, electric mobility, sustainable tourism frameworks, or regional collaboration, islands are becoming some of the world’s most important laboratories for climate adaptation and sustainable development.
And as global uncertainty grows, Island Innovation is ensuring these communities are connected closely enough to learn from one another. “No island has solved every problem,” Ellsmoor says. “But some are working on different areas and have examples of where they’ve done really well.”
The future, Island Innovation argues, will not be built through isolation. It will be built through collaboration between the communities already living on the front line of change.
