The consequences became starkly visible in October 2025, when Hurricane Melissa made landfall as the strongest hurricane ever recorded in Jamaica. The Category 5 storm caused widespread destruction, displaced thousands of people and resulted in estimated economic losses of US$8.8 billion — equivalent to around 41 per cent of the country's 2024 GDP.
Yet one finding stood out during the development of Jamaica's long-term climate strategy: the estimated cost of implementing the country's planned adaptation measures was comparable to the losses caused by that single hurricane. The comparison demonstrated that investing in resilience can be far less costly than rebuilding after disaster strikes.
While Hurricane Melissa highlighted the scale of future climate risks, Jamaica’s response had already begun years earlier. Recognizing the need to look beyond short-term climate action, the country set out to develop a long-term vision that would support economic development while reducing emissions and strengthening resilience.
A long-term vision for climate action
Jamaica became the first country in the Caribbean to submit an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement in 2020. Building on this momentum, the Government of Jamaica began developing its 2050 Long-Term Emission Reduction and Climate-Resilient Strategy (LTS), in line with Article 4, Paragraph 19 of the Paris Agreement, which encourages countries to prepare long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies.
The Climate Change Division of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and the Planning Institute of Jamaica jointly led the process. The objective was to establish a long-term pathway that would support sustainable economic development while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening resilience to climate impacts.
Developing a strategy that looks ahead to 2050 meant answering questions that affect every sector of Jamaican society: How can communities be protected from increasingly severe climate impacts? How can economic growth continue while reducing emissions? And how can climate resilience become part of everyday development planning?
The Government established a Cabinet-mandated multi-stakeholder committee to guide the process, bringing together representatives from government ministries and agencies, academia, civil society organizations, development partners and the private sector.
Sectoral working groups examined mitigation and adaptation opportunities across key areas of the economy. Initial discussions focused on climate-sensitive sectors such as water, agriculture, tourism, health, and coastal and human settlements before expanding to include energy, transport, forestry and waste management. Stakeholders integrated cross-cutting issues, including culture and social inclusion, throughout the process.
The strategy builds on Jamaica’s broader national development agenda under Vision 2030 Jamaica, as well as existing climate and energy policies, including the Medium-Term Socio-Economic Policy Framework and the Climate Change Policy Framework. It translates long-term development goals into practical pathways for reducing emissions, strengthening energy security, protecting natural resources and improving resilience across vulnerable sectors and communities.
Under the LTS, Jamaica aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 73 per cent by 2050 while pursuing a development pathway aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement and a 1.5°C future. At the same time, the strategy seeks to strengthen resilience in areas most exposed to climate risks, particularly coastal zones and human settlements.
"Jamaica's Long-Term Strategy provides a framework for aligning climate resilience, emissions reduction and national development priorities. It helps ensure that the actions we take today support a more sustainable and resilient future for generations to come."
— Omar Alcock
Acting Principal Director, Climate Change Branch, Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change
Stakeholder engagement at the centre of the process
Stakeholder engagement played a central role in the strategy development process. The Government and its partners organized consultations through bilateral meetings, workshops and validation sessions Consultations were held through bilateral meetings, workshops, and validation sessions in Kingston, Mandeville and Montego Bay, as well as virtual consultations and online feedback platforms.
However, these consultations were not limited to reviewing draft documents. Stakeholder feedback helped refine technical modelling, identify sector priorities and strengthen implementation considerations. This ensured that the strategy reflected both national ambitions and practical realities on the ground.
"We don't think about climate action in Jamaica as something that happens in silos. We take a whole-of-economy, whole-of-society approach, bringing together different voices to help shape the country's future."
— Taneque Heslop
Jamaica NDC Partnership In-Country Facilitator
International support helped strengthen the process
Jamaica’s LTS development benefited from extensive international support. Through the NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP), organizations such as the World Bank, the Climate Technology Centre and Network, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the GHG Management Institute, the Caribbean Cooperative MRV Hub and the Rocky Mountain Institute provided technical assistance.
Building on the support provided through the NDC Partnership’s Climate Action Enhancement Package (CAEP), the 2050 Pathways Platform played a central role in supporting the development and refinement of Jamaica’s Long-Term Strategy. The Platform helped strengthen the analytical framework, integrate technical inputs and ensure coherence across different workstreams. Working closely with Climate Analytics and national partners, it also enhanced the modelling and evidence base underpinning the strategy, helping to deliver a robust and ambitious long-term vision for Jamaica’s low-emission and climate-resilient development.
Together, these contributions, combined with strong national leadership and international collaboration, helped ensure that the final strategy was both technically robust and aligned with global climate goals.
Challenges along the way
Like many other countries developing long-term climate strategies, Jamaica faced several challenges throughout the process. Financial constraints affected the availability of resources for technical studies and stakeholder engagement. Data gaps and limited technical capacity made detailed emissions modelling and climate impact assessments more challenging. In addition, coordination across ministries and sectors required sustained effort, particularly in areas where climate considerations had not previously been fully integrated into policy planning. These experiences reinforced the importance of strong institutional coordination, reliable data systems and continued investment in technical capacity.
Credit: Sean Witter / Pexels
Turning long-term ambition into action
Developing the strategy was only the first step. Jamaica is now focused on translating its long-term climate vision into practical implementation.
To support this effort, the Government has advanced several complementary initiatives. These include the development and update of an LTS Operationalization Plan, which serves as a technical guide for implementing the country's long-term climate objectives.
The Government has also undertaken a cost-benefit analysis and macroeconomic assessment of the strategy. A technical team that included the Climate Lead Group, the University of the West Indies and the International Centre for Research on Environment and Development carried out this work, with support from the 2050 Pathways Platform. The assessment evaluates the economic viability of Jamaica's pathway towards net-zero emissions by 2050.
In parallel, an investment plan supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and delivered by Deloitte is helping estimate implementation costs and identify potential sources of financing.
Together, these assessments help demonstrate that investing in climate resilience and low-emission development can generate long-term economic benefits while reducing the costs associated with climate-related disasters and other climate impacts.
These initiatives are helping translate the strategy into practical actions, financing priorities and implementation planning. Jamaica's Long-Term Strategy is not only ambitious but also aligned with the country's broader development priorities.
In 2025, Jamaica further strengthened its climate ambition through the submission of its NDC 3.0, which expanded both the scope of sectors covered and the level of targeted emission reductions.
Credit: Bergen Davis / Pexels
Lessons for other countries
Jamaica’s experience offers several lessons for countries developing long-term climate strategies:
- Strong institutional coordination is essential for aligning climate objectives across sectors.
- Early and continuous stakeholder engagement can strengthen both the technical quality of a strategy and national ownership of its outcomes.
- Reliable data systems and technical capacity are critical for robust analysis and long-term planning.
- Climate resilience and emissions reduction can be integrated into broader development planning rather than treated as separate objectives.
- International partnerships can provide valuable technical expertise and support implementation efforts.
What comes next?
Today, Jamaica’s Long-Term Emission Reduction and Climate-Resilient Strategy serves as a framework for guiding climate action, investment and development planning through to 2050.
As climate impacts continue to intensify across the Caribbean, Jamaica’s experience demonstrates how long-term planning can help countries move beyond responding to disasters and towards building a more resilient future.
By linking climate resilience and emissions reduction with broader national development priorities, Jamaica is laying the foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth while preparing for the realities of a changing climate.
As countries across the Caribbean advance their own long-term climate planning efforts, RCC Caribbean is supporting the outreach, dissemination and promotion of Jamaica's Long-Term Strategy, including through regional knowledge-sharing activities that help share lessons learned across the region.
Jamaica’s 2050 Long-Term Emission Reduction and Climate-Resilient Strategy is available on the UNFCCC website.
The RCC Caribbean would like to thank Mr. Omar Alcock, Acting Principal Director of the Climate Change Branch in the Ministry of Water, Environment and Climate Change and Ms. Taneque Heslop, Jamaica’s NDC In-Country Facilitator for their contributions to this resource. We would also like to acknowledge Viktoria Dimitrova from the 2050 Pathways Platform for the valuable contributions to the preparation and review of the case study.
