Cases / Finance, funds and markets · Jamaica · 2024
Jamaica's World Bank catastrophe bond did not pay after Hurricane Beryl
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
The Bretton Woods Project reported that Jamaica's World Bank-brokered catastrophe bond failed to pay despite the devastation of Hurricane Beryl in 2024. The sources reviewed do not describe any effect on nature.
What?
Jamaica's World Bank-brokered catastrophe bond did not pay out after Hurricane Beryl in 2024, per the Bretton Woods Project. Bretton Woods Project
Where?
Jamaica Bretton Woods Project
When?
2024 (Hurricane Beryl); report published in October 2024 Bretton Woods Project
Who?
Gained
None on recordLost
None on recordHarmed
- Households whose homes were destroyed by Beryl — Received no payment from the bond
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
A catastrophe bond whose payment depends on trigger conditions, which the V20 group described as difficult and specific. Bretton Woods Project
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
The Bretton Woods Project reported in October 2024 that Jamaica's World Bank-brokered catastrophe bond failed to pay despite the devastation of Hurricane Beryl.
The article said the bond had also not paid in the 2021 and 2022 hurricane seasons, and that the V20 group described the trigger conditions as difficult and specific.
The article also cited Eurodad as saying the new features were ineffective.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: Artemis reported in 2024 that Beryl was not expected to trigger the bond, because the pressure threshold was not crossed in any subregion.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: the bond paid US$150 million for Hurricane Melissa in 2025.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: the 2021 bond was US$185 million, with its premium paid by the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.
- None on record Not stated in the sources reviewed: the trigger thresholds, and the reasons the bond did not pay for Beryl.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers
Communities and civil society
- Jamaica's World Bank-brokered catastrophe bond fails to pay despite devastation of Hurricane BerylBretton Woods Project · 2024-10
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- 1991 World Bank memo signed by Lawrence Summers on pollution in Africa Africa (regional) · 1991–1993
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Institution that issued the internal memo
- Cambodia fills Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak lake with sand under 99-year lease Cambodia · 2007–2011
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: lender whose land-titling programme was reviewed
- Costa Rica payments for ecosystem services and forest recovery Costa Rica · 1997
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Results-based carbon payer
- Green Belt Movement and Karura Forest, Kenya Kenya · 1977–2023
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Signed a carbon-credit agreement with the Green Belt Movement
- Ho Chi Minh City canal restoration demolished about 7,000 households Vietnam · 1993–2012
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: lender of the first-phase loan
- India's 1975–77 Emergency sterilisation drive drew a $66 million World Bank loan India · 1975–1977
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Lender
- Jamaica catastrophe bonds and the Hurricane Melissa payout Jamaica · 2021–2025
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Issuer and arranger of the catastrophe bonds
- Lagos waterfront evictions (Otodo-Gbame, Badia East) and Eko Atlantic Nigeria · 2014–2026
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Funder of a project in the Badia East area
- Mbeubeuss landfill plan to hire 500 of more than 3,000 waste pickers Senegal · 2025
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: finances the Mbeubeuss rehabilitation, as reported
- Mekong sand mining (Cambodia, Vietnam) Cambodia and Vietnam · 2007–2026
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Inspection Panel finding on Boeung Kak land titling; lending freeze 2011
- Mongolia index livestock insurance Mongolia · 2024
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Author of the presentation describing the programme
- Nepal community forestry Nepal · 2000–2026
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Funder of carbon payments (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility)
- Olkaria geothermal projects (Kenya) Kenya · 2013–2017
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Financier; its Inspection Panel reviewed the resettlement
- Rabobank co-financed a Brazilian eucalyptus carbon plantation contested by locals Brazil · 2003–2008
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: operator of the carbon fund
- Sengwer evictions from Embobut forest and the EU Water Towers programme (Kenya) Kenya · 2014–2024
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Funder of an earlier forest project (2007)
- Sri Lanka fertiliser ban Sri Lanka · 2021
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Source of the paddy yield figure
- Uzbek cotton boycott ends forced labour Uzbekistan · 2017–2026
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Lender (USD 800 million, October 2025)
- World Bank $100m plastic waste bond tied to Verra credit sales Multiple countries · 2024
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: issuer of the bond
- World Bank $800m Uzbekistan operation; Tanzania project halted Uzbekistan · 2017–2025
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: lender; policy operation and REGROW financier
- World Bank and development bank accountability mechanisms: Embobut (Sengwer), Tata Mundra, Arun III, Jale, Cambodia Kenya · 2007–2024
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Funder of the Kenya project; hosts the Inspection Panel
- World Bank inspection panel registers complaint over Rogun dam financing Tajikistan · 2024–2025
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: financier
- World Bank REGROW project, Ruaha National Park Tanzania · 2017–2025
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Financier of the REGROW project
- World Bank US$600m farm loan coincided with a 90% fall in farm support Turkey · 2001–2003
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Lender of the US$600m loan
- World Bank-backed Colombo flood work turned Beddagana wetland into a park Sri Lanka · 2010–2018
- World Bank (International organisation) — here: Brokered the bond; there: Funder whose support backed the programme