CLIMATE experts who huddled in Jamaica for two days of talks have determined that climate innovation is not in short supply but access to capital, coordination, and visibility still pose a problem.

The 2025 Global Climate Finance Forum (GCFF), held April 28-30 at Half Moon Resort in Montego Bay, brought together 50 climate investors, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and policymakers to rewrite the equation of where climate solutions are financed.

The discussions resulted in several recommendations to sustain momentum and inform the global climate finance agenda, especially for those with policy responsibility.

Key among those was a call for the introduction of tax benefits for institutional and retail investors to incentivise investing in Global South-listed equities, bonds, and private equity vehicles.

Furthermore, the forum agreed that policymakers should ensure that SMEs shape the design of investment-readiness tools, avoiding extractive or one-size-fits-all approaches.

It also highlighted the need for collaboration on locally grounded frameworks for measuring impact, aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 13 (also known as Climate Action, one of the 17 sustainable development goals established by the United Nations in 2015) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

The forum, in the meantime, also advocated the launching of a global public relations strategy to shift risk perceptions and showcase Global South climate innovation.

It also called for the mobilising of sovereign wealth funds and large pension schemes to allocate a defined share of their portfolios toward Global South climate SMEs and the development of a transparent registry of investable climate-focused SMEs and regional aggregators to improve deal visibility and facilitate investor matchmaking.

Jamaica’s Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation Matthew Samuda, who is also Jamaica’s lead representative to COP30, called attention to the urgent needs of small island developing states (SIDS). According to Samuda, the current public climate finance framework penalises Jamaica by not fully recognising economic development opportunities alongside climate adaptation needs.

Samuda told the forum that he was at one with sentiments expressed by Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley recently.

“The global financial architecture is not structured for small island developing states and the Global South to overcome the challenges that they face… I agree with her and her call for restructuring… it can’t be a one-size-fits-all for those who haven’t bitten the proverbial bullet,” he said.

“Because you are in Jamaica, I will be focusing specifically on the SIDS… the issue of climate finance is a rather layered and intertwined one… but it’s the slow onset events that give me the greatest fear because Jamaica is already experiencing sea level rise faster than any projection… these are the slow onset events that those who choose to deny the reality of their choices and the impact on us don’t want to discuss,” Samuda said.

“It can’t be that the same systems that financed the developed world’s growth now punish the Global South for needing to adapt,” he argued.

Noting that Jamaica is probably one of the few countries which, though small, is large enough to develop some bankable projects on its own, he said, “fixing the issues we face can be profitable. The Caribbean has made many multinationals wealthy — now is the time for capital with a conscience”.

At the close of the conference GCFF delegates committed to 36 actions, including: creating tax incentives and regulatory allowances for institutional and retail investors to allocate capital toward climate SMEs in the Global South.

They also agreed to pilot [blended] finance structures with embedded local asset managers to address risk perception and improve scale. These vehicles, the forum said, should be designed to engage institutional investors and create demonstration effects across markets.

They also committed to developing and scaling new financial products that meet the unique needs of climate SMEs, such as impact-linked loans, supply chain finance, or regionally structured funds. Additionally, they pledged to support investor-readiness of climate SMEs through targeted technical assistance, including boot camps and peer-learning programmes focused on governance, risk communication, and climate impact measurement among other things.

Meanwhile, the GCFF, in coming to a consensus on where its future meetings will be hosted, said Jamaica should remain its permanent home — a place where global climate conversations can happen without visa barriers.

Participants came from across the globe, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Jamaica, Nepal, The Netherlands, Rwanda, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay.