Barbados has warned that mounting frustration and broken promises on climate finance are eroding trust among developing nations, as the government prepares for the COP30 United Nations Climate Change Conference with “guarded and cautious expectations”.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kerrie Symmonds said the world’s most vulnerable countries are losing patience with wealthy nations’ failure to deliver on funding commitments, and that climate inaction is now a matter of “life and death” for the Caribbean.
COP30 is set for Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21.
Symmonds made his comments in a contribution to the latest quarterly edition of Diplomatic World, a magazine interlinking politics, diplomacy, business and finance, economic diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and health.
Appearing alongside high-level voices from Saint Lucia and Cuba at the forefront of the climate crisis, the senior minister called for a more just and equitable international order, noting that Bridgetown was confronting two serious challenges going into COP30.
Symmonds wrote: “The first, and perhaps the most significant, is that we have to manage a mounting sense of frustration on the part of people in the developing south. In the islands of the Caribbean in particular, there is a sense of despondency about the amount of conversations we have had, the frequency with which we report that there have been commitments, but then there is a shortfall in the context of delivery.
“In Egypt, at COP28, we got the loss and damage [fund] commitment. Three years later, only US$760 million (BDS$1.5 billion) have been pledged towards the loss and damage fund. I am not sure even half of that has been realised in terms of actual delivery.”
To illustrate his argument, Symmonds recalled that last year, Hurricane Beryl swept through the Caribbean, impacting St Vincent and Grenada.
“In each case,” he contended, “the loss and damage easily exceeded US$700 million (BDS$1.4 billion). Clearly, there is an under-delivery, and that is the root of the frustration and disappointment.”
The government minister stressed that at the same time, the major polluters of the world are distracted, and revenue expenditure is now being increased for defence purposes in Europe.
“The second challenge is related to those who think climate change is a hoax. Until everyone sees climate change as a real threat, and an existential threat, they will not be taking it seriously. And that is why my expectations are rather low,” Symmonds said.
He noted that last year, Barbados created history by launching the world’s first debt-for-climate resilience conversion, which generated US$125 million (BDS$250 million) in fiscal savings that will be channelled into new resilience investments.
The debt-to-climate swap allows Barbados to build resilience on the island without increasing its debt burden, and is being channelled into upgrading its water infrastructure.
Symmonds said the debt-to-climate conversion exemplifies measures that Barbados and like-minded partners have been calling for under the Bridgetown Initiative: namely, affordable, long-term climate finance tailored for vulnerable states.
He pointed out that this project is a practical demonstration of the reforms proposed in the Bridgetown Initiative being put into action.
The foreign minister said: “We are convinced that this model is scalable, and can apply to sectors other than climate-vulnerable nations facing high debt burdens. We also consider that the model can be applied to sectors other than climate, such as a debt-to-social swap, targeting education, health or poverty reduction.”
He was adamant that a system must be created where resilience financing is accessible, affordable and transformative.
Symmonds pledged Barbados would be vigilant as it chairs the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), a global partnership of countries that are disproportionately affected by the consequences of climate change.
“That [keeping the eyes on the ball] is the most important thing for the disproportionately impacted countries of the south,” he said. “We have to continue hammering home the message that climate change is not a hoax. This is a matter of life and death for us.” (EJ)
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