Commonwealth SG Urges Major Carbon-Emitting Nations to Honor Climate Change Pledge
LUANDA, Angola – Commonwealth Secretary General, Patricia Scotland, has pledged the support of the 56-member grouping in helping members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) secure the US$100 billion committed by major carbon-emitting nations to combat the worst impacts of climate change.
Commonwealth Secretary General, Patricia Scotland at COP27.“We have to make sure that when people promise they actually deliver. And so there’s a lot of work to do.” Scotland told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) after attending the two-day 10th OACPS Summit of Head of States and of Governments that ended here last weekend.
“And we in the Commonwealth, linking hands with everyone with the Organisation of African Caribbean states, with CARICOM, with the African Union, with the Pacific Island Forum, with the UN with the World Bank, with Dr Tedros [Adhanom Ghebreyesus] of WHO, we are linking hands with all of our partners, because we have to deliver this,” she said.
“The clock is ticking. And we know that if we don’t move, then there will be millions of those we love who will lose their homes, their lives and their livelihoods,” she added.
At the start of the OASCPS summit, the Caribbean and the Pacific flagged climate change among the major challenges affecting their development and Scotland told CMC “so it’s on us to push to deliver and to make sure that those who are not listening, actually get to feel what it means for them to ignore those who are suffering.
“So we’re all raising our voices. I was delighted to be here. Delighted to hear the strong statements coming from all over the African, Caribbean, Pacific region. And we are one and we will remain one until this is done.”
She said that the Commonwealth has a real role to play in terms of supporting the sustainable agenda and the delivery of the climate change agreement made in Paris in 2015.
Scotland noted that it was the Commonwealth, back in 1981, before the first United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) was held in Langkawi in Malaysia, had identified that climate change poses an existential threat.
“And the reason the Commonwealth highlighted that issue is, of the 42 small states in the world, the majority of them, 33, are in our Commonwealth. So it’s really critically important that our Commonwealth countries in the Pacific, in the Caribbean are literally drowning as the sea rises…” Scotland told CMC.
She said that archipelagic Commonwealth countries are “also drowning in the debt that has been accrued as a result of these climatic disasters after so many years, because when a hurricane hits you, when a cyclone hits you, and it removes your buildings, your roads, your bridges, your hospitals, all of which you have invested and taken debt in order to deliver it doesn’t take the debt with it. It leaves the debt behind. So these issues have been of pivotal importance to the Commonwealth”.
She said also it was at the Commonwealth meeting in Rwanda this year that 54 leaders came together and agreed that they would put loss and damage on the global climate talks agenda.
“It’s in our communique; in paragraph 53. And when our leaders went from Kigali to Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt where COP27 held in 2022), which was the first African COP, they all insisted that loss and damage should be on that agenda. And you know, we fought for it and we got lost and damage agreed.”
Scotland told CMC, however, that just agreeing to have the money is not the same as getting the money, noting that in 2009, developed countries pledged US$100 billion to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
“They promised to give US$100 billion. Even now, today, that US$100 billion hasn’t been delivered. So it’s not just the saying, it’s the doing and the Commonwealth has created the climate finance access hub, which puts climate finance advisors in countries to help them to really get at that money.
“So far…we have already delivered more than US$56.3 million to our member states. And we’ve got almost US$900 million in the pipeline.
“So we’re finding ways to get that money, but all of our members need that type of advice, that type of support so they can get the money they deserve. And although I’m thrilled that we got commitments on loss and damage, that’s just the start,” Scotland said, adding that next year’s Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting in Samoa will be an opportunity for leaders to see, first hand, the impact of climate change.
“It will enable all the member states to taste and see the reality of what living in the Pacific is like,” Scotland said, adding, “The great opportunities, the great beauty, but also the great danger, the great challenge, the great threat.”
Scotland noted that the OACPS is made up of 79 countries, 42 of whom are members of the Commonwealth, representing 2.5 billion people, 60 percent of whom are under the age of 30.
“So it was really important that these three regions came together to discuss some of the issues which are pivotal now in our world, not least climate change, but also how do we create the wealth that is needed to enable all our people in those three regions to meet the sustainable development goals,” Scotland said, adding this involves trade, digitalization, and becoming “green and blue in terms of delivering the changes that we need for a sustainable planet.
“It was a real moment of determination from all of us, particularly because all the multilateral agencies have to come together and are coming together to deliver a sustainable future for everyone,” she told CMC.
