The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) is collaborating with a number of multilateral financial institutions and partners to beef up the country’s resilience to extreme climate events.

Working with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Green Climate Fund (GCF), European Investment Bank (EIB), and the United Kingdom (UK), the GOJ will be developing a three-pronged approach to improve the country’s ability to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

According to Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke, the three-pronged approach involves the development of an innovative Project Preparation Facility, a domestic Jamaica Green Financing Facility, and using low-cost, long-term infrastructure financing instruments.

“Jamaica’s development will require significant and sustained infrastructure investment that outstrips the resource capacity of the Government. We will therefore need to attract local and international private investment through structured transactions,” he stated.

As part of the collaboration, the IDB will be partnering with the Government to develop a Project Preparation Facility (PPF) geared toward identifying, prioritising, structuring, and implementing resilient and climate-smart projects across sectors through public-private partnerships. Using the Jamaica Systemic Risk Assessment Tool (J-SRAT), which was prepared with assistance from Oxford University and financing from the UK, both the IDB and GOJ will be able to identify systemic climate risks and climate hot spots which will need attention.

Already both parties have committed resources to the development of the PPF.

Commenting on the IDB’s contribution, Ilan Goldfajn, president, IDB Group, said, “Jamaica and the IDB have a long-standing and deep-rooted development partnership. We are delighted to have been so closely involved in the development and implementation of the IMF RSF-supported programme for Jamaica that will be critical to setting the stage for a more sustainable future.”

The GCF, for its part, will be looking at ways to lower the cost of projects while optimising the financing from private sector through public-private partnerships.

Together with the GCF and EIB, the GOJ has embarked on the development of a new Jamaica Green Facility. The fund will provide credit financing and capacity development, either directly or through local financial institutions, to local climate projects.

Once the Jamaica Green Facility is established, the country’s other multilateral partners will add their support with more funding, technical support and capitalisation — pooling their resources to finance projects that are aligned with Jamaica’s climate ambitions. The UK will add seven million pounds to support the initiative.

“The UK is delighted to be working with Jamaica through providing technical assistance to support increased investment in climate resilient infrastructure and as a trial country for the Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance. We recognise the dual challenge faced by Jamaica in accessing public climate finance and mobilising private finance for investment in resilience,” Andrew Mitchell, minister of state in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, said.

Additionally, the GOJ will be able to access low-cost, long-term financing instruments from the European Union, through the EIB, to support climate-resilient water, sanitation and clean ocean projects. So far, the EIB has made available US$18 million in grants to support projects across the Caribbean to complement a $165-million loan facility.

The GOJ’s push to strengthen climate resilience comes against the background of the International Monetary Fund approving a US$764-million Resilience and Sustainability Facility that stipulates the need for reforms to support Jamaica’s physical and fiscal resilience, advanced decarbonisation of the economy, and the management of the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.