CABINET member with responsibility for climate change Matthew Samuda has scoffed at claims by his Opposition counterpart Phillip Paulwell that the Andrew Holness Administration has dropped the ball in this critical area.

Making his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate on Tuesday, Paulwell, who is also the Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives, charged that the urgency which the People’s National Party (PNP) Administration gave to climate change has not continued since 2016 under the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government.

“Thanks to the visionary leadership of our former Prime Minister… Portia Simpson Miller, who created the first Ministry of Climate Change in this hemisphere, Jamaica is well-placed — in a future PNP Administration — to restart and give greater energy to more coordinated action to the myriads of climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives that need urgent attention,” said Paulwell.

“The truth is, Madam Speaker, the issue of climate change continues to be one that is dominated by an international perspective and efforts usually ushered in by senior political leadership. Jamaica has not been seen to continue its international leadership in this regard,” added Paulwell.

But on Wednesday Samuda told the Jamaica Observer that Paulwell had either not been paying attention over the last eight years, or was being intellectually disingenuous.

“There has been no fall-off in Jamaica’s international footprint on the topic of climate change. In fact, we are heavily requested and regarded in this space,” declared Samuda.

“The reality is that in 2017 it was Prime Minister Andrew Holness who was asked to lead the international effort to mobilise the US$100-billion funds committed by the international community to make the Paris Climate Change Agreement a reality.

“He was asked to co-lead a team with President [of France, Emmanuel] Macron and the Emir of Qatar [Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani], and would have done so until 2019,” added Samuda as he listed a number of international entities and negotiating blocs on climate change which Jamaica has led in the past eight years.

According to Samuda, if either he, or the prime minister, were to respond to the number of international requests they receive to lead the charge on measures to tackle climate change they would never be on the island.

“However, no amount of speaking engagements abroad will deal with what is already a reality, which is the fast-changing climate. It is the mobilisation of projects through detailed preparation, the mobilisation of finance, and we should note that this Government was the first in the world to launch what we dubbed J-SRAT, the Jamaica Systemic Risk Assessment Tool that looks at infrastructural risks through the climate lens,” Samuda told the Observer.

“This is something that we are proud of… We are mainstreaming looking at infrastructure projects through the climate lens and ensuring that we sequence our investments in a manner that reduces our risks and increases our resilience,” added Samuda.

Paulwell had also used his presentation in Parliament to declare that a future PNP Government would amalgamate all the climate change products in a more focused and coordinated way and ensure that the Climate Change Division was properly structured.

In response, Samuda said he agrees with Paulwell that the size of the Climate Change Division as it now stands is inadequate for the growing challenge.

“In that regard, we are conducting a review and will make announcements at the appropriate time but there can be no question that this Government is taking a coordinated approach to the issue,” said Samuda.

He pointed out that Jamaica was the 11th country to submit its nationally determined contributions which are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and shows efforts by each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

“These commitments are firm. We are well under way and if you are to reflect on my exchange with member Paulwell during the recent meeting of Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee, you would see that we are well under way to achieve our renewables target,” added Samuda as he pointed to Jamaica’s engagement with the International Monetary Fund for a multi-billion-dollar climate resilience agreement.

“It is not a bail-out, as it would have been in 2013, but rather a forward-looking facility that mobilises just under US$1 billion for climate resilience. The resilience fund that Jamaica has is to build against climate shocks. That’s why I have to wonder if Mr Paulwell is simply not paying attention,” declared Samuda.