Racquel Moses | Caribbean leadership took spotlight at COP28

Arguably the most important UN climate summit since COP21 which saw the creation of the Paris Agreement, COP28 in Dubai is shaping up to be historic and unprecedented for many reasons. It is the conference at which loss and damage was to be operationalised – the fruit of decades of work, negotiations, and advocacy by climate-vulnerable nations and their allies, the loss and damage fund was a major project the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator (CCSA) and our regional partners have advocated for over the past few years.

The fund so far has over US$700 million pledged, and was one of many new announcements at the summit, including a Global Methane Pledge with $1 billion in new grant funding associated with reducing methane emissions, as well as the mobilization of $7 billion towards resilient food systems. Ever since the ratification of the Paris Agreement in 2016, there has been an ever-increasing wave of leadership and innovation taking hold in countries on the frontlines of climate change – and the Caribbean has played a key role.

GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

Caribbean global leadership has taken many forms, including speaking from one united voice on key issues. We are developing a pathway for a Caribbean Single Energy Export Market, launched our Climate Smart Map (here) innovation to support attracting funding and project aggregation and created home-grown technologies like Partanna’s carbon-negative concrete among other achievements. This is complemented by action on the international stage, best exemplified by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s ongoing call for improved climate finance pathways for vulnerable nations, or Simon Stiell’s leadership as the UNFCCC’s executive secretary.

“We need highest ambition, not point scoring or lowest common denominator politics,” expressed Stiell ahead of COP28. “Good intentions won’t halve emissions this decade or save lives right now. We need enhanced transparency, and to deliver our promise to fund climate action across the world.” The Grenadian diplomat has steered back-to-back COPs towards taking concerted action on climate, helping secure the operationalisation of the Loss & Damage Fund on the first day of COP28, and continuing to push negotiators to achieve historic progress.

NOTICEABLE SHIFT

We have witnessed first-hand how the Caribbean has risen to the challenge of finding innovative workable solutions that leverage regional knowledge and entrepreneurship – the region has become a petri dish, one which identifies emerging trends with high potential and positions itself to be a proving ground for scaling solutions. We want to see projects succeed so that we can continue to build on our centres of excellence in the region and learn from them. In Dubai, it became clear that this vision is coming to life. “We are saying to the world that as a region we are walking the talk. We will develop our own solutions and put them on the table,” expressed Shantal Munro-Knight, minister in the office of the prime minister, Government of Barbados, during a session on a proposed Regional Goal on Adaptation (RGA).

At COP28, we have seen new announcements from across the region, including Antigua’s participation in a coalition calling for a phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies, Dominica and Barbados’ interest in developing wave action, or Saint Lucia’s commitment to identifying mitigation and adaptation measures. The Caribbean continues to close the gap in becoming the world’s first climate-smart zone but large swathes of philanthropy and catalytic finance is necessary to close the loop. This is bolstered by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2022 report, which noted foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean rose by 51 per cent in 2022. The region is becoming a hotspot for sustainable development and we are creating a blueprint for the rest of the world to follow.

CAPITALISING ON PROGRESS

The next step following this COP is to continue capitalising on the progress we have made at national and regional levels. Dubai has highlighted the Caribbean’s ambition in resilience-building, we must increase collaboration towards meeting shared goals. Regarding the RGA, Munro-Knight said, “This initiative is extremely critical for the Caribbean in terms of having a fit for purpose framework that is built on our experiences and brings the voices of the communities to bear. We must ensure we have the necessary cross-collaboration and I look forward to seeing this tool develop.”

Collaboration is key and as Munro-Knight pointed out, we must all work together across the region to ensure that we continue on our upward trajectory. Considering the amount of progress the CCSA has witnessed in the past few years, we are excited to see what the future holds as we continue to develop our projects across the region and support those of our regional collaborators – the Caribbean is pressing forward to close the gaps while continuing to onboard as much support as we can identify!

Racquel Moses is the CEO of Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator and UNFCCC Global Ambassador for SIDS. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.