KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, Pearnel Charles Jr, says that while increased climate ambition is necessary, it is useless without predictable, accessible and equitable financing. 

“Achieving ambitious targets requires bold, innovative action from major emitters and developed country partners like those convening the Informal Champions Group, to ensure available, accessible, flexible and predictable sources of adaptation finance to support the efforts of developing countries,” he told today’s virtual United Nations General Assembly.

Charles was representing Jamaica at the launch of the Informal Champions Group on Adaptation Finance’s “Accelerating Adaptation Finance” event in New York.

He noted that this meeting, which is one of several events taking place during Climate Change Week in New York, was preliminary evidence of the global shift-in-train to make climate financing for adaptation and mitigation fit-for-purpose.

He pointed to Jamaica submitting a revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) with broader sectoral coverage, and a commitment to deeper emission reductions in the energy sector by up to 28.5 percent by 2030 as well as launching the NDC implementation plan and inviting partners to join in its execution.

Charles also stated that the Government of Jamaica is taking steps to float a Green Bond on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, and to explore further benefits that can accrue from the carbon market.

He pointed out that Jamaica was the first Small Island Developing State in the Caribbean to register a project under the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism, namely the Wigton Windfarm, which is the largest wind farm in the English-speaking Caribbean to date.

He said that Jamaica will continue to make its voice heard on climate financing, loss and damage and other issues, when it joins countries around the globe in Glasgow Scotland in November this year, at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP 26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Jamaican delegation to COP 26 will be led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, and Charles Jr.