Thirty nine small island and low-lying nations have urged world leaders to ensure the so-called ‘climate finance COP’ in Azerbaijan offers a beacon of hope for the “unheard voices” who deserve “climate justice.”
Pacific Islands, Caribbean, African, Indian and South China Seas States, who are members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), have also called for COP29 to deliver a substantive outcome on mitigation that allows parties to progress the agreements reached as part of the UAE Consensus, which is critical for reaching the 1.5-degree goal.
These key messages were delivered by Samoa, as the Chair AOSIS, on Tuesday during the resumed High Level session of the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Baku.
Samoa’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster, reiterated that the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance, a key discussion point this week, must address the needs and priorities of each developing country.
“AOSIS’s top level priority for this COP is to see its key ask from the joint SIDS and LDCs submission on respective minimum allocation floors of at least USD 39 billion per year for SIDS and at least USD 220 billion per year for LDCs included in the final NCQG outcome,” said Toeolesulusulu.
The NCGQ is a key element of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which seeks a new financial target to support climate action in developing nations post-2025. In 2009, during the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, a climate finance goal was set at USD 100 billion per year.
For many years, the goal remained elusive and was only fully achieved in 2022. The current goal to finance climate action in developing countries for the period 2020-2025 is USD$100 billion. In the post-2025 period, a new global goal to finance climate action is needed. This is the genesis of negotiations for COP29 on an NCQG on climate finance.
Minister Toeolesulusulu said the NCQG should not focus entirely on mitigation and adaptation, but given the ever-increasing impacts of climate change, it should also include financing for loss and damage.
“The goal agreed in Baku must also provide a strong foundation on how we report back and monitor climate financing received. Transparency and accountability of the support needed and provided is key for implementing action that will allow us to reach the one and half degree goal in this critical decade,” he said.
COP29 is taking place at a time where political dynamics are complex with significant economic and security challenges in play – including heightened tensions and worsening conflict and causalities as a result of both the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars. A suite of high profile and pivotal elections around the world during 2024 have added to the uncertainty and volatility of the geopolitical landscape ahead of COP29.
All this should not take away from the focus of COP29. Samoa, as AOSIS Chair, reminded leaders that climate change is a phenomenon we are feeling today. Pacific communities are at the forefront of climate impacts.
“Hotter summers and colder winters are the new norm. We are now facing the possibility of losing the most vulnerable countries with the least capacity to address these climate events. The irreversible damage from climate change impacts being faced by SIDS is immeasurable and must be addressed,” said Toeolesulusulu.
“Climate impacts must be addressed immediately and with a keen sense of urgency. The longer we wait the less likely there will be a road for the recovery of SIDS. IPCC scientists are calling for immediate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to make the world safe. While we spend trillions globally on fossil fuel infrastructure and security, we are doing nothing to save humanity from the clutches of climate change.”
Maintaining the special needs and circumstances of SIDS, recognised in Rio in 1992, and reaffirmed at the last SIDS conference in Antigua and Barbuda, is critical for AOSIS at COP29.
“Our fragile economies, limited resources, and the remoteness of our island nations must be fully addressed within the new goal.Agreement to a goal that fails to recognise the special case of small islands would ensure that the Paris Agreement will fail to meet its goals,” said Minister Toeolesulusulu.
Fourteen Pacific countries are parties to UNFCCC and are also signatories to the Paris Agreement. All are members of the Alliance of Small Islands States which has been chaired by Samoa for the last two years, with Palau set to take on the chair role for the next two years. These Pacific Islands also make up the Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) which is currently chaired by Vanuatu. For the past two weeks, Pacific leaders, negotiators and delegates have been amplifying the Pacific asks in all spaces of COP29.
On adaptation, AOSIS reminded world leaders about the promise to double adaptation financing.
“Over the last years, access to adaptation finance has been more than challenging for us. As countries with the least capacity to implement adaptation actions we need grant-based financing to meet our adaptation needs,” said the AOSIS Chair.
“The newly established Fund for Responding to Loss damage must come into play here. Small islands have advocated for a fund to address loss and damage for many years now. We must ensure the complementarity and coherence among all funding arrangements to address loss and damage as we strive to achieve the 1.5 goal within this crucial decade.”
Minister Toeolesulusulu also used the opportunity to express Samoa’s support for Australia’s bid to host COP31 in 2026. He said the COP platform is “essential for advocating global awareness and action on climate issues that disproportionately affect island communities.”
He called for global support for Australia’s bid, saying it will be a great opportunity to amplify the “voices of those most affected by climate change, particularly small island states, where the impacts are felt acutely.”
