UK donates £10m towards climate financing

WESTERN BUREAU:

Having recognised the importance of climate-change financing and the struggles Jamaica and other vulnerable countries are facing, the United Kingdom (UK) has donated £10 million towards the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Partnership Financial Strategy.

According to Judith Slater, the new British high commissioner to Jamaica, her country’s investments are of paramount importance towards building out a strong financial base aimed at providing member countries with much-needed funding to mitigate climate change and its impacts.

Slater said the UK recognised the frustrations climate-vulnerable countries are facing as they tirelessly try to access climate finance. Those challenges, she noted, are “often slow, uncertain, resource-intensive and not always aligned with partner countries’ own national priorities”.

While a previous pledge was made at the United Nations climate change conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, in Glasgow, the UK high commissioner argued that the threatening levels of climate change and the need for funding has ignited the desire to give more.

“At COP26 the UK announced a £5 million contribution to this fund, and I am delighted that we have now doubled this contribution and will be providing £10 million to accelerate the deployment of funding for technical expertise, capacity building and mobilisation of finance for developing countries to implement their NDCs,” Slater said.

She was speaking at the official launch of the NDC Partnership Financial Strategy steering committee which is meeting at the Ziva and Zilara Resort in Montego Bay. The steering committee meeting is co-chaired by Slater and Senator Matthew Samuda.

The NDC Partnership is a country-driven and member-led global coalition that brings together more than 200 members, including more than 115 countries, developed and developing, and more than 80 institutions, to create and deliver on ambitious NDCs that help achieve the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to Slater, alongside the important efforts of NDCP and other key partners, UK and Fiji launched the Task force on Access to Climate Finance at COP26 to help secure a step toward a change in access arrangements at both the national and global levels.

MUCH-NEEDED IMPROVEMENTS

She noted that the task force seeks to build on the vital work already undertaken by Jamaica and other partners to deliver much-needed improvements in the predictability, flexibility, transparency, and speed of access, and also to focus support on partner countries’ own national plans and priorities.

“We are grateful for Jamaica’s willingness to help us trial this approach at the country level. We look forward to working closely with the NDC Partnership on this, alongside the US, as Jamaica’s ‘anchor donor’, ensuring real progress on this initiative by November’s COP27 meetings, and using that as the foundation for further progress across the following years of the task force trial,” she added.

Meanwhile, Samuda said the launch of the partnership financial strategy provides a clear narrative for members and global leaders on how the partnership supports country’s efforts to mobilise finance for NDC action and highlights areas in which cooperation can be strengthened.

“Given the role of Jamaica as one of the global leaders of the climate finance agenda, this launch will send a strong message that raised ambition in developing countries must be urgently matched with large-scale, predictable, and timely financing,” Samuda told NDCP delegates.

He added that the partnership demonstrates to potential finance providers, both public and private, that countries are taking vital action and that, through this medium, they can share real opportunities for investment.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com