Assessing climate risks in the financial system is not only timely but essential.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Prof Biman Prasad made the comment at two-weeks Climate Change Macroeconomic course that is held at the Holiday Inn in Suva.
As a Government, he said they had prioritised the development of fiscal policies that provided buffers against climate-related disasters, both in terms of our financing gap and green financing.
“For example, we have a standby loan from the Japanese government because we feel that Pacific island countries need to be always prepared with respect to the kind of physical buffers we can create because we are not sure when we can be hit by such disasters, and it is important for us to respond immediately to the needs of our people, but also to build infrastructure in the medium to long term,” Mr Prasad said.
He said he also saw pursuit of green financing as part of the climate change macroeconomic course, mobilising resources for sustainable development generally, which he added was vital for combating climate change.
“A lot of these different models of financing can be quite onerous for the Pacific Island countries.”
Mr Prasad said they were advocating very strongly within multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, ADB and development partners on how to access a quick and an appropriate quantum of funding; and how they could reform the systems and processes within the multilateral development banks to ensure easier accessibility, which “is very onerous and difficult to access”.
“So, I think preparing ourselves in terms of good policy making is perhaps the first step given the constraints that we have with respect to climate funding.
“The insights into measuring climate risks and utilising reliable data sources with an emphasis on the practical application of these tools in policy and planning is going to be important.”
He acknowledged the support from development partners like Australia, New Zealand, European Union, Japan and other countries “because I think that is good recognition of the need of that kind of collaboration, the need for that kind of assessment on a regular basis as to what is needed by Pacific Island countries, including Fiji”.
