‘The talk must come to an end’ – Mia Mottley tells COP27

Nov 08, 2022 News

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– urges reform of international banks, setting up of climate mitigation fund

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley at the Opening of the COP27 World Leaders Summit, advanced that in order to actually make a difference for climate-change the promises being made by heads-of-government must come to an end and their actions need to be seen.

The Barbadian PM joined hundreds of world leaders in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt for the 27th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – COP27.

In the opening of her address, Mottley said: “I don’t need to repeat that we have the power of choice, every speaker on this platform has done that.  I don’t need to repeat that this is the COP that needs action all of us as a curse have said that. I don’t need to repeat the horror and the devastation wrecked upon this earth over course of the last 12 months since we met in Glasgow…”

The Prime Minister then noted: “but what we need to do is to understand why we are not moving any further. One point five (1.5 degree Celsius) to stay alive cannot be that mantra and I take no pride in being associated with having to repeat it over and over and over.”

While making reference the fact that organisations manage to find a vaccine within two-years when the Coronavirus pandemic struck back in 2019, Mottley stated that likewise with a collective effort more can be done for climate change. However, she noted, the simple political will that is necessary not just to attend climate summits year after year and making promises, but to deliver on them and to make a definable difference in the lives of the people who the world leaders have a responsibility to serve – seems not to be capable of being produced.

“I ask us how many more and how much more must happen…I come from a small island state that has high ambitions but is not able to deliver on that high ambition because the global industrial strategy that we have fault lines in it our ability to access electric cars or ability to access batteries or photovoltaic panels are constrained by those countries that have the dominant presence and can produce for themselves but the global south remains at the mercy of the global north on these issues,” Mottley added.

Mottley made reference to the speech made by Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, which highlighted the difference in the cost of capital to those in the global south and global north. As such, she questioned how many more people must speak out before those who have the capacity to instruct the directors at the World Bank to regulate the issue – actually does so.

Mottley said that the world looks still like it did when it was part of an imperialistic empire as the global north borrows between interest rates of 1 to 4% while the global south is faced with 14%.  To this end she said, “And then we wonder why the just energy partnerships are not working.”

The Prime Minister questioned, “How many more countries must falter particularly in a world that is suffering the consequences of war and inflation and countries are therefore unable to meet the challenges of finding the necessary resources to finance their way to net zero.”

She then pointed out that if countries that want to do the right thing and finance their way to net-zero is unable to get the critical supplies, in-turn those countries will have to rely again on natural gas.

Mottley posited: “This is the ball reality and we have come here to ask us to open our minds to different possibilities. We believe that we have a plan, we believe that they can be the establishment of a climate mitigation trust that unlocks $5 trillion dollars of private sector savings if we can summon the will to use the SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) $500 billion of SDRs…in a way that unlocks the private sector capital.”

The SDRs is an international reserve asset, created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves. To date, a total of SDR $660.7 billion (equivalent to about US$943 billion) have been allocated.

The Prime Minister noted that in order to use the SDRs, it requires a change in the attitude of congress. She explained that the agreement that establish the IMF requires 85% to change that agreement and pointed out that the United States of America (USA) holds 17%.

“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 who have been graduated can fight this battle without access to concessional funding,” Mottley said.

Mottley also stated that she believes that it is critical to address the issue of ‘Loss and Damage.’  Loss and Damage is the term used broadly refers to efforts to avert, minimise and address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts, especially in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

The Prime Minister explained, that in order for the ‘Loss and Damage’ to work, it cannot only be the issue of asking the Heads-of-State to do the right thing.  She said, “We believe the non-state actors and stakeholders, oil and gas companies and those who facilitate them, needs to be brought for a special convocation between now and COP28.”

Mottley highlighted that how can companies that made $200B in profits within the last three months not expect to contribute at least 10 cents on every dollar of profit to a ‘Loss and Damage’ fund. The Prime Minister said too that she believes that the time has come for the introduction of, “a natural disaster and pandemic clauses in our debt instruments.”

Moreover, the Barbadian Prime Minister stated too that the multilateral developmental banks have to be reformed.

In fact, she said, “Yes it is time for us to revisit Bretton Woods. Yes, it is time for us to remember that those countries, who sit in this room today, did not exist at the time when the Bretton Woods institutions were formed for the most part. And therefore we have not 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…then there needs to be a new deal with respect to the Bretton Woods institutions and we need to ensure that they have a different view to their risk appetite, that we look at the SDRs and we look at other innovative ways to expand the lending that is available…”

The Bretton Woods Institutions are the World Bank and the IMF. They were set up at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA in July 1944. Their aims were to help rebuild the shattered postwar economy and to promote international economic cooperation.

In closing, Mottley noted that time is running out and reminded the world leaders that they have the power of choice. The Barbadian Prime Minister also said, “I ask the people of this world and not the 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.”

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