Jamaica’s Capacity To Access Climate Funding Strengthened

The nation’s capacity to access more climate finance has been boosted with the formal launch of Jamaica’s first Country Programme for engagement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

The programme was inaugurated by Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Daryl Vaz, during the opening of a national consultation on climate action at the AC Marriott Kingston Hotel, St. Andrew, on Wednesday (October 23).

Minister Vaz, in his remarks, stressed the significance of the undertaking in supporting and streamlining the country’s actions to engage with the GCF. He noted that funding is one of the most important considerations when planning for climate action.

“We anticipate using this country programme mechanism to develop sound and targeted project proposals to access funding,” he said.

The Country Programme, which was prepared with financing from the GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme, will provide strategic guidance on the key project proposals that are considered quick wins for climate investment over the next two years.

This involves readiness projects that will strengthen Jamaica’s institutional capacity to plan, access and deliver climate finance.

Developed over the last 18 months, the Country Programme is based on a combination of national climate change and development policies, strategies and action plans and intensive stakeholder engagement from ministries, departments and agencies, the private sector, and civil society.

Minister Vaz said the Government has been advancing climate action in many different ways, including through budgetary allocations from the government coffers as well as those from bilateral and multilateral partners.

He noted, however, that this is not sufficient to address the scale of the issue, hence the need to embark on the process of developing a Country Programme that will see the island benefiting from increased access to climate funding.

The GCF is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) financial mechanism that assists with developing countries’ climate change adaptation and mitigation practices.

The UNFCC’s primary objective is to stabilise the concentration of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system.

The national consultation is in preparation for the 25th session of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC that will be held in Santiago, Chile, in December this year.

Jamaica has participated in COP since the first session was convened in 1995.

The consultation was organised by the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, which is the National Focal Point (NFP)/National Designated Authority (NDA) to the UNFCC.

The Division also prepared the Country Programme with support from Climate Analytics Inc., a non-profit climate science and policy institute based in Berlin, Germany, which brings together interdisciplinary expertise in the scientific and policy aspects of climate change.