BOJ to get technical support to identify climate risks in financial sector

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is to receive technical support from the French Development Agency (AFD) over the next two years as Jamaica seeks to further strengthen its financial sector.

The AFD is a public financial institution that implements the policy defined by the French Government.

Among other things, it focuses on climate, biodiversity, peace, education, urban planning, health, and governance.

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Matthew Samuda says the technical support to the BOJ will identify climate-related risks within Jamaica's financial sector and conduct a stress test to integrate the management of climate-related risks into policy making.

Samuda was providing opening remarks on Tuesday during the virtual joint NDC Partnership-OECD Workshop, which is being held over two days under the topic – 'Greening the Financial Sector: Needs and opportunities of developing countries and the role of development co-operation'.

The NDC Partnership is a coalition of 120 countries and more than 85 international institutions focused on creating and delivering on climate action that helps achieve the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the type of support that is needed to translate them into actionable policies and programmes. 

And the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives.

Together with governments, policy makers and citizens, the OECD works on establishing evidence-based international standards and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges.

Samuda, who is also co-chair of the NDC Partnership, believes platforms such as the NDC Partnership and OECD as well as initiatives such as the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening Financial Systems are tools to enable green economies.

“There is increasing recognition of the crucial role of the financial sector in driving and enabling the transition to a low-emission, climate-resilient future. As a supporting mechanism, the NDC Partnership launched its Readiness Support for Greening Central Banks in 2021,” Samuda added.

The Readiness Support initiative aims to ensure that the central banks of developing countries have the institutional structure, capacity, processes & systems to adopt precautionary approaches to climate risks.

The NDC Partnership-OECD workshop is being held to facilitate a discussion on the needs, specific challenges and opportunities, lessons learned, and emerging good practise approaches on “greening” the financial sectors of developing countries.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.