Market integration efforts of Caribbean small island developing states have become transposed on the growing paradigm shift towards green economy pathways. Central to this is the challenge of implementing Caribbean energy policy in a manner that is aligned with green economy ideals and face the realities of regional indebtedness and environmental impacts. Here we analyze the current state of the Caribbean energy policy development arena and propose that the currently weak policy and institutional design regime might potentially benefit from the application of the Institutional Analysis and Design (IAD) model especially within the operational context of the green economy. It allows us to identify current policy dilemmas, bottlenecks and discrepancies and to disentangle some of them while offering up a way forward with others. We do not so much offer distinct recommendations but focus more on delineating how to clear the pathway for sound policy intervention and outcomes. By doing so we set forth a challenging agenda for future policy analysis research that will advance Caribbean energy policy in more robust ways. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.