Caribbean Matters: At COP27, Barbados PM Mia Mottley is a powerful voice addressing climate change

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While many people here in the U.S. have been focused on the midterm elections and results, which are still coming in, nations around the world have been participating in COP27. More formally known as the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, it started on Sunday, Nov. 6 and runs through Friday, Nov. 18 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The nations of the Caribbean, along with all the others in the developing world that are on the front lines of the impact of climate change, need a champion with a voice that can be heard globally. It is amazing to see that happen in the form of Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. Though she represents a small island country with a population of only around 288,000 people, she has become a voice for millions.

Join me in listening once again to what she has to say.

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Caribbean Matters: Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados is a force to be reckoned with

Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.

Please take the time to listen to her 13-minute speech, which she delivered on Nov. 7.

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Soledad Quartucci at Latina Republic has posted the full transcript:

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, Speaks at the Opening of #COP27, World Leaders Summit of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27).

“I came here to say a few things. ... I don’t need to repeat … the horror and the devastation wrecked upon this earth over the course of the last 12 months since we met in Glasgow. Whether the apocalyptic floods in Pakistan, or the heat waves from Europe to China or in the last few days in my own region, the devastation caused in Belize, with Tropical Storm Lisa, or the torrential floods a few days ago in St. Lucia. We don’t need to repeat it because the pictures are worth a thousand words.

But what we do need to do is understand, why we are not moving any further. 1.5 to stay alive cannot be that mantra. I take no pride in … having to repeat it over and over. We have the collective capacity to transform. We are in the country that built pyramids. We know what it is to remove slavery from our civilization. We know what it is to be able to find a vaccine within two years when a pandemic hits us. We know what it is to put a man on the moon. …

But the simple political will that is necessary, not just to come here and make promises but to deliver on them, and to make a definable difference in the lives of the people who we have a responsibility to serve, seems still, not to be capable of being produced.

I ask us, how … much more must happen, and I say so because there is no simplicity, and we get it. I come from a small island state that has high ambition but that is not able to deliver on that high ambition because the global industrial strategy that we have has fault lines in it.

Our ability to access electric cars or … batteries or affordable panels are constrained by those countries that have a dominant presence and can produce for themselves, but the global south remains at the mercy of the global north on these issues.

But it isn’t only that. We heard Al Gore just now speak about the difference and the cost of capital to those of us in the global south and I ask us, how many more people must speak before those of us who have the capacity to instruct our directors at the World Bank, … at the IMF … How many more countries must falter in a world that is now suffering the consequences of war and inflation and countries therefore are unable to meet the challenges of finding the necessary resources to finance their way to net zero?

This world looks, still, too much like it did when it was part of an imperialistic empire. The global north borrows with interest rates between 1 to 4%. The global south, around 14%. And then we wonder why the just energy partnerships are not working.

Similarly, we ask ourselves, if countries that want to finance their way to net zero and want to do the right thing can’t get the critical supplies, will they not have to rely again on natural gasses? This is the reality. And we have come here to ask us that we open our minds to different possibilities.

We believe we have a plan, that there can be the establishment of a claim mitigation trust that unlocks 5 trillion dollars of private sector savings if we can summon the will to use the SDRs, 500 billions of SDRs in a way that unlocks the private sector capital.

We believe that that requires a change in the attitude of Congress. Because the agreement that establishes the IMF requires 85% to change that agreement. And if the U.S. government has 17% of the quota, then it can’t be done, Mr. Gore, without your Congress.

Similarly, we accept that there was and must be a commitment to unlocking concessional funding for climate vulnerable countries. There is no way that developing countries … can fight this battle without access to concessional funding. ...

We believe that it is critical that we address the issue of loss and damage. ... I would like to salute Denmark, Belgium and Scotland for their own modest ways of trying to accept the precepts and principles of loss and damage, as critical and morally just.

But for loss and damage to work we believe that it can’t be only an issue of asking State parties to do the right thing although they must, but we believe that the non-state actors, the stakeholders, the oil and gas companies and those who facilitate them, need to be brought into a special convocation between now and COP28.

How do companies make 200 billion dollars in profits in the last 3 months and not expect to contribute at least ten cents in every dollar of profit to a loss and damage fund?

This is what our people expect.

And I ask us as we reflect on what a loss and damage fund can look like and who should access it that we convene a special congregation that doesn’t only involve state parties but non state actors such as the same companies. We believe as well that the time has come for the introduction of natural disaster and pandemic clauses in our instruments.

I have said that if Barbados is hit tomorrow because we have natural disaster clauses, God forbid if we are hit tomorrow, we unlock 18% of GDP over the next 2 years. Because what we do is effectively put a pause on all of our debt and put it at the end for 2 years and we pay back that money at the end, but what we get is the flexibility in the first two years to address issues of damage and loss, and finally we believe that the multi-lateral development banks have to reform.

Yes, it is time to remember that those countries that sit in this room today did not exist at the time that the Bretton Woods institutions was formed, for the most part. Therefore, we have not been seen, we have not been heard sufficiently, and if we are therefore to rise to the occasion, to play our part to stop the tragic loss of life that we have seen on these screens, and the impact of livelihood that we are feeling across our countries, then there needs to be a new deal with respect to the Bretton Woods institutions. And we need to insure that they have a different view …. that we look at the SDRs and innovative ways to expand the lending that is available from billions to trillions.

My friends, the time is running out on us. And yes, we have the power of choice. When asked what should he do when he became president of South Africa, should he pursue a path of vengeance or should he seek to build a state, Nelson Mandela chose to be able to build the state and keep the country together. He chose blessings instead of curses because he believed that it would make a defining difference.

When given the choice of how to treat post war Europe, president Truman settled the Marshall Plan that made the definable difference to the countries that were responsible for the destruction of so much and the loss of life for so many. ... They chose to rise above it.

I ask us today, what will our choice be? We have the power to act or the power to remain passive and do nothing. I pray that we will leave Egypt with a clear understanding that the things that are facing us today are all interconnected. ... There needs to be peace.

Because countries like ours continue to suffer as a result of a war that we are not part of. And a war that we want to see come to an end. Our people on this earth deserve better. And what is more, our leaders, know better. Because while many of us may not have been alive during the great wars the consequences of those wars still live with us and we have the capacity to choose differently.

I ask the people of the world and not just the leaders therefore, to hold us accountable and to ask us to act in your name, to save this earth, and to save the people of this earth. The choice is ours.

What will you do?

What will you choose to save?”

The Guardian has labeled her speech as a “blistering attack” on industrialized nations:

One of the biggest issues at the talks is climate justice – the fact that poor people are bearing the brunt of the damage to the climate, in the form of extreme weather, while rich countries have failed to live up to their promises to cut emissions and to provide finance to help the poor with climate breakdown.

Mottley, who was speaking at an event organised by Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was scathing about the World Bank, which many countries think has not done enough to focus on the climate, and on countries that offer loans instead of grants.

“We need to have a different approach, to allow grant-funded reconstruction grants going forward, in those countries that suffer from disaster. Unless that happens, we are going to see an increase in climate refugees. We know that by 2050, the world’s 21 million climate refugees today will become 1 billion.”

I admit I was surprised to see TIME Magazine offering this critique of the U.S. written by London staff writer Ciara Nugent:

Of the 23 wealthy countries that CarbonBrief included in its analysis, which uses data and estimates from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Resources Institute, and Oxfam, the U.S. is by far the biggest laggard, giving just 19% of its fair share of the $100 billion. But others were also billions of dollars short: Canada provided 37% of its fair share, Australia 38%, and the U.K. 76%. The $100 billion pledge, first made by these countries in 2009 as part of U.N. negotiations on climate action, was meant to be delivered annually by 2020.

Anger is mounting at the failure to meet what looks, in 2022, like a fairly low-ball target. The $100 billion promised to the entire developing world equates to the amount of aid sent to Ukraine to help fight off the Russian invasion this year. It is about two thirds of the budget of the England’s public health service, or one eleventh of U.S. defense spending. $100 billion is also how much money Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has lost from his personal fortune over the past 13 months.

All in all, the 23 rich countries gave just over $60 billion for poorer countries to cut their emissions and adapt to climate change in 2020, through both direct country-to-country aid and contributions to multilateral development banks. An additional $23 billion was sent via climate funds and private sources, bringing the climate finance total for 2020 to $83 billion.

Mottley doesn’t just offer critiques, she has also been touting some solutions. Activist, critic, and filmmaker Ashish Ghadiali, writing for The Guardian, describes the work Mottley has been doing with Professor Avinash Persaud, special envoy to the prime minister (Barbados) for investment and financial services and senior fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Throughout 2022 Persaud has been working with Mottley to draw up a blueprint for a reformed architecture that would speak as poignantly to the leaders of global finance as to communities living on the frontlines of climate breakdown.

The evolving proposals, called the Bridgetown Agenda, have seen the pair make inroads into organisations as diverse as the IMF and the Climate Vulnerable Forum, while also winning the support of key figures, including the UN climate champions Mahmoud Mohieldin and Nigel Topping, and the leading economists Nicholas Stern and Vera Songwe.

Topping says: “We do need more of a Marshall Plan-type mentality, because this is about growing the global economy and growing global economic stability and global prosperity. If we don’t solve this then we have very bad economic and security outcomes.”

The Bridgetown Initiative focuses on three interconnected crises: the rise in cost of living prices due to the war in Ukraine and COVID-19, the developing country debt crisis as a result of the pandemic and climate-related disasters, and the climate crisis in general as weather intensifies and glaciers melt:

The situation is compounded by tightening monetary policies in developed countries and a strengthening U.S. dollar. One in five countries is experiencing fiscal and financial stress. Unaddressed, there will be deepening hardship, debt defaults, widening inequality, political upheaval and a delayed shift to a low-carbon world. Global leaders are now experienced in managing crises.

They know what to do and have the means necessary. We must act now. We cannot be good at rescuing banks but bad at saving countries.

While addressing these immediate needs, we must also lay the path toward a new financial system that drives financial resources towards climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals require the rapid scaling up of investment in the low-carbon transition in the energy, transport and agricultural sectors to safeguard the 1.5-degree Celsius target, providing for substantial investment in building climate-resilience and sustainability and critical investments in public health and education.

This tweet from Dominican lawyer Isaac James Eloi on the recent flooding in Dominica points to yet another climate disaster in the Caribbean, which he links to Mottley’s speech:

Dominica lashed HARD again by tropical storms which has killed at least one person. This is becoming an annual occurrence with the extreme flooding. The eastern Caribbean is suffering once again. THIS is what Mia Mottley was talking about.#ClimateActionNow #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/UMYtO6RZq8

— Isaac James | mwen pa sòt online (@aChildOf2Worlds) November 8, 2022

Prior to COP27, Mottley addressed the UN General Assembly on Sept. 22, 2022, on the financial issues and disparities faced by developing nations:

As an alternative to the global status quo, Mottley introduced in her UN speech what she called the Bridgetown Agenda, developed this summer in Barbados’s capital by civil society officials and researchers. “It is that agenda that speaks to the reform of the Bretton Woods architecture. We’ve asked and will ask countries and people to join it,” she said.

Mottley lauded Denmark, which on Tuesday announced a $13 million tranche that will help developing countries cope with loss and damage related to climate-change impacts. She listed universal needs that were being neglected including education, broadband access and the right to a bank account.

“Countries across the world are being denied the right to access correspondent banking, and leaving their citizens and their economies to function as financial pariahs in a world that is supposed to be globally interdependent for the movement of capital,” she said.

On a different front, Mottley has also been strengthening ties between the Caribbean and Africa. She just visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial, the resting place for 250,000 victims of the genocide against the Tutsi. She met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame to explore plans “to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, sports, tourism, agriculture among others.”

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At the end of of her visit she left these words in the memorial guest book:

Words really cannot express the horror that is captured here. Those who stood to divide, rape, torture and kill on the basis of ethnic differences must FOREVER be condemned.

Those who come after MUST forever learn from this horrid experience and loss of lives – of families, of children.

That this country has sought to rise above this in RECONCILIATION is the greatest example to us all who must strive to build platforms of peace, love and development. WE ARE CAPABLE OF BETTER. THIS REMINDS US OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CHOOSE NOT TO BE.

May the people of Rwanda be blessed in the knowledge that the sacrifices of your people in the past SHALL not be in vain. BUT stand as a beacon as to what can be built even against the greatest examples of decades of hatred and division.

Love & Blessings always from the people of BARBADOS

I’m adding love and blessings to Mia Amor Mottley. Join me in the comments below for more, and the weekly Caribbean news roundup.