NEW YORK, United States — In his address to the United Nations on Friday, Prime Minister Andrew Holness called for more access to climate financing for developing countries, including Jamaica.

Citing the unfulfilled UN promise of US$100 billion annually for climate financing  and the historic but underfunded loss and damage fund established at COP 28 Holness said: “Developed countries must honour their commitments and scale up climate finance, recognising that adaptation is a necessity for the survival of small island developing states.”

The prime minister added that the global financing system remains ‘fundamentally flawed’.

“It penalises reforming economies like Jamaica with high borrowing costs while ignoring our vulnerabilities. Through sacrifice, discipline, and sound management, Jamaica has reduced its debt to GDP ratio from 144 per cent to now 62 per cent, yet we remain locked out of concessional financing because of outdated metrics based solely on per capita income,” Holness said.

The prime minister added, “Jamaica has demonstrated unwavering leadership in climate action despite our limited resources. We have committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and have implemented our national adaptation plan with specific measures to build resilience across key sectors, and we are on track to achieve our renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030. However, our efforts and those of other states are severely constrained by the lack of predictable access to financing,” he told the gathering of world leaders.

Holness was addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)  at the UN Headquarters in New York City.