KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved a US$2.1 million readiness grant submitted by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), on behalf of Jamaica, boosting the country’s ability to access climate finance and build resilience to a changing climate.

The grant, entitled “Catalysing Climate Action by building Jamaica’s NDA Capacity & Country Investment Platform”, will help Jamaica access international climate financing and develop a pipeline of projects needed to protect its people, economy and environment.

The project proposal was developed under the United Kingdom (UK) funded Small Island Developing States Capacity and Resilience Programme (SIDAR) for the Caribbean, which aims to increase Caribbean member states’ access to climate finance and accelerate climate-resilient action across the region.

The approval of this project is timely as Jamaica continues to recover from Hurricane Melissa, the most powerful storm on record to make landfall on the island. The losses and damage caused by Hurricane Melissa, equivalent to 56.7 per cent of Jamaica’s 2024 gross domestic product, underscore the urgency of accessible, large-scale climate finance for Jamaica.

“The Government of Jamaica welcomes the continued partnership with the GCF especially considering our post Hurricane Melissa environment. The mobilisation of US$2.1million is important to Jamaica’s work in building climate resilience,” said Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, in a release on Friday.

Under the grant, Jamaica will modernise its data and knowledge sharing systems and deliver a comprehensive training programme to build national capacity to design and finance climate projects.

A central outcome will be the creation of a Climate Investment Platform, which will match bankable projects to the most appropriate sources of finance, helping the country attract investment at the scale and speed that its recovery and long-term resilience demand.

The grant will also establish a Project Management Unit in the Nationally Designated Authority (NDA) office to support the work of the Climate Investment Platform.

Executive Director of the CCCCC, Dr Colin Young said the GCF investment will help ensure that Jamaica can increase its access to large scale and programmatic climate finance as it pursues climate-resilient recovery.

“Given Jamaica’s vulnerability to climate-related disasters and the urgent need of climate finance at scale to build resilience, this US$2.1 million investment from the GCF will strengthen the country’s capacity to access greater levels of climate finance that ultimately will protect lives and livelihoods across Jamaica, including areas significantly impacted by Melissa,” he said.

“The CCCCC remains steadfast in supporting Jamaica to mobilise greater scale of climate finance as well as provide technical expertise and partnerships to accelerate climate action to ensure a more resilient future for all Jamaicans,” Dr Young continued.

For her part, Kristin Lang, director of the Green Climate Fund’s Department for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region said, “The Green Climate Fund is pleased to approve readiness support for Jamaica to establish a Country Investment Platform. These platforms serve as vital mechanisms to bring government, the private sector and development partners together in a unified process to identify resilient policies and investments, while aligning public and private finance, both international and domestic.”

“GCF is proud to be a partner of choice in bringing these platforms to life through our flagship Readiness Programme, the largest climate-focused institutional strengthening and technical assistance programme in the world,” she added.

Acting Principal Director of the Climate Change Branch in the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change and Nationally Designated Authority to the GCF, Omar Alcock, said the grant was essential to enhancing the country’s capacity to unlock the capital required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build its resilience against some of the worse climate impacts.

Jamaica is the first Caribbean Community (Caricom) country to receive approval for its proposal since the GCF launched a new four-year readiness strategy, which took effect in January 2024. The readiness grant reinforces the CCCCC’s mandate, on behalf of Caricom member states, by enhancing their ability to access and effectively deploy climate finance, while strengthening institutional capacity to plan for, respond to and build resilience against the effects of climate change.