Jamaica to Benefit from £7-Million Climate Financing Package

Jamaica is set to benefit from a £7-million package to increase the country’s access to climate financing.

This was announced by Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom (UK), the Rt. Hon. James Cleverly, during a press conference following the Jamaica-UK strategic dialogue at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade downtown Kingston offices on May 19.

“This project delivers on a promise that we made at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). We will set up a fund to which others will contribute. They will provide support for increasing climate resilience across key sectors, and once we have shown that it can work in Jamaica, we will encourage other Caribbean countries to do likewise,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cleverly said the Jamaica-UK strategic dialogue will progress and strengthen the longstanding history of cooperation between the nations.

“There is urgent need for us to work together to address the issues that face us. We have a strong working relationship and we will build on that in areas such as security cooperation, addressing climate change, economic growth in both our nations and the response to disaster and natural incidents.

“And of course, having celebrated the Windrush Generation, we recognise the importance of people-to-people links and making sure that that is working well,” he said.

For her part, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, said the Government and people of Jamaica look forward to future engagements that will further enhance the partnership between the nations.

The Minister said she was pleased to learn that the UK will continue advocating for Jamaica and small island developing states regarding access to increased climate finance.

“This support includes our pioneering role on the Access to Finance Task Force, which promotes a country-led approach to simplifying and scaling-up international climate and nature finance provisions, while sharing lessons with other climate-vulnerable countries,” she noted.

The strategic dialogue covered a wide range of topics, including security, climate change, trade and investment, health, the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Windrush arriving in Britain, diaspora and consular affairs, Haiti and the war in Ukraine.