Driving private finance into resilient infrastructure in Jamaica

Location & Region: Jamaica, Caribbean

Partner: Coalition of Climate Resilient Investment

Implementer: Jamaican Government, UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the Jamaica Systemic Risk Assessment Tool (J-SRAT), University of Oxford

System: Urban / Infrastructure, technology, finance

Jamaica, a small developing island that has witness the devastating impacts of climate change. Its population, infrastructure, and economic resources are extremely vulnerable to the worsening climatic disasters caused by hurricanes, tropical storms, and flooding.

Allocating funding, especially from the private sector to climate-resilient infrastructure is required to counteract climate extreme weather events, therefore increasing investment in climate-resilient infrastructure to address physical climate risks is an urgent action front. In Jamaica the action required to catalyze private finance is already underway, providing also the possibility of attractive investment opportunities to the private sector .

With the use of technology, the Jamaica Systemic Risk Assessment Tool (J-SRAT) is able to identify key areas across the country’s major infrastructure networks that are most vulnerable to climate risk, this tool supports the effective and efficient investment of public and private resources, by first prioritizing infrastructure and by attracting the funding required.

The main goal of this innovative tool is to speed adaptation by strengthening the resilience of infrastructure assets and avoid losses and damages.

Key features of the Jamaica Systemic Risk Assessment Tool:

• Climate risk hotspots – J-SRAT delivers unparalleled high resolution and visual analysis, accurately identifying hotspots of vulnerability across critical infrastructure.

• Real life impact – Existing climate models are limited to forecasting broader climate impacts. Cutting-edge capabilities of J-SRAT allow Jamaica to assess practical impacts of increasingly severe weather events on specific services, such as more frequent water or power shortages caused by infrastructure damage.

• Open source – Jamaica’s government will have full control of J-SRAT, with CCRI and its partners also committed to ensuring the innovative methodology is freely available worldwide, accelerating global efforts to invest in climate-resilient infrastructure.

• Unlock investment – Natural disasters in Jamaica have a devastating impact on economic development. J-SRAT’s ability to accurately calculate the damage and economic losses from future climate risks future gives decision-makers and private sector investors the confidence to prioritise infrastructure that will be more resilient and capable of withstanding future climate impacts.

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