BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 13. Antigua and Barbuda seeks consensus on a clear, substantial climate finance target at COP29, with adequate funding to help us adapt and to build resilience, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Alphonso Browne said as he delivered his statement during the COP29 summit in Baku, Trend reports.
He stressed that Antigua and Barbuda calls not for loans that deepen debt burden but for direct investments in the form of compensatory grants to build back more resilient infrastructure that will be damaged repeatedly by catastrophic climate events. This financing must be equitable, accessible, and debt-free in order to achieve climate justice.
"Every year of inaction compounds our vulnerability and deepens the injustice that we enjoy. We cannot wait any longer for empty pledges to become meaningful action. For decades, wealthy nations pledged $100 billion annually to support vulnerable countries. Yet these promises have largely gone unfulfilled. Now, as we discuss a new collective quantified goal, we again see proposals that complicate rather than commit," the prime minister noted.
According to him, the wealthy, polluting countries are seeking to shift responsibility onto elusive private capital instead of ensuring decisive government action to reduce and disincentivize emissions by introducing a global carbon tax to fund the clean energy revolution that is quintessential to saving the planet.
"To those who bear the greatest responsibility for climate
change, I say this—the time for moral responsibility is now. The
time for increased climate ambitions is now. If promises of support
remain unfulfilled, then justice must demand that those promises
are enforced," Gaston Alphonso Browne emphasized.
He noted that Antigua and Barbuda cannot continue to hear the same
promises as its islands suffer and descend into despair. In the
absence of real action from those most responsible for climate
change, vulnerable nations are turning to international law.
"That is why we will appear before the ICJ in December in solidarity with Vanuatu as champions of their case. If voluntary pledges remain broken, then international law will be our pathway to justice. This is no longer a choice. It is a necessity when commitments go unmet. My small island bears a disproportionate burden in this crisis. Nonetheless, we are determined to utilize our limited resources to build resilience to climate extremities, for we are resolved to secure our nation and our future," he said.
He added that COP29 must be a turning point where the world chooses justice over delay, responsible leadership over evasion, and decisive action over empty promises. Antigua and Barbuda urge that this be the year that promises are honored because time is running out.