MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, says the political initiative being led by himself and President of France, Emmanuel Macron, to mobilise climate financing to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement has been going “very well”.

“We have come up with some excellent ideas on how this can be done and we will be marketing this all around the world,” Holness said.

“We have started and countries are making greater pledges about increasing their work,” he added.

Holness was speaking at the inauguration of Paradise Park Solar Farm in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, on Wednesday (October 2).

Last year, at the 73rd Session of the United General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Holness and President Macron were asked by UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to mobilise the Government and private-sector support in raising $100 billion per year in climate finance by 2020.

The UN Secretary-General said that the funds were needed to address the mitigation and adaptation needs of developing countries.

He noted that within the context of the Paris Agreement, developed countries have reaffirmed the pledge made at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, to mobilise $100 billion per year from a combination of public and private sources.

Holness, in noting the importance of the initiative, said that “we know from where we are living that there are changes that are happening in our climate, which are leading to disasters”.

“These disasters obviously have a human impact… a dislocating and devastating human impact. It is important to know, though, that there is also a fiscal impact… meaning the ability of the country to finance recovery. So, we have to do our part in figuring out ways to finance after a weather event that creates a disaster and how do we finance before a weather event that is likely to create a disaster,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Holness said that Jamaica is looking to work with the United States to strengthen the island’s disaster resilience.

He noted that he met with Vice President Mike Pence at the White House and “we had a very good conversation on how Jamaica and the United States can work closer in ensuring that there is a good plan in place for disaster recovery and resilience”.

Paradise Park, a US$65-million investment, is the largest solar project in Jamaica. It is projected to significantly decrease the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, while helping the island to reach its sustainable development targets.

—JIS