Small-island solidarity and climate common sense

LUXEMBOURG :While efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change will remain a top international priority for decades to come, the most urgent risks from global warming require immediate action and new ideas. As UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga last month, “If we save the Pacific, we save the world.”

Since the Paris climate agreement was signed eight years ago, much progress has been made to create a more sustainable economy, with new technological solutions allowing countries to maintain strong growth while also reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. Governments, businesses, and households are increasingly determined to support climate investments. Renewable energy is becoming businesses’ first choice for electricity generation. Innovation is boosting the competitiveness of green alternatives. And financial institutions are allocating more than $1 trillion each year to green projects.

In this context, sustained and concerted action at a global level will be the key to success. Yet the progress has been too slow for the world’s most vulnerable regions. For people living on small islands and grappling with rising sea levels, extreme weather, and ocean warming, climate change is already an existential threat. Despite their minimal carbon footprints, these regions are at the forefront of the problem. Their challenges today will become the global crises of tomorrow.

For small islands, adaptation is critical. Caribbean and Pacific Island states, along with parts of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, face many more severe climate-related problems than other parts of the world. They also are more vulnerable financially. Whether borrowing money to recover from natural disasters or investing to strengthen their resilience to climate change, they face higher interest rates, and these additional costs come at the expense of investments in health and education.

As the world leader in humanitarian and development aid, the European Union is one of the closest partners that small island states and other vulnerable regions have in combating climate change. Under the EU’s Global Gateway investment strategy, we have put our money where our mouth is, because our commitment reflects both genuine solidarity and common sense. We know that the costs of a disorderly green transition would far exceed the costs of investing in climate adaptation and mitigation right now. The gradual, credible changes that we make today are what will spare us the massive economic, social, and environmental damage caused by unchecked climate change.

A few recent examples illustrate our commitment. In Kiribati, a small island state in the central Pacific, rising sea levels may render many islands uninhabitable within a few decades. So, the EU and its financial arm, the European Investment Bank, are working with the World Bank and other international financial institutions to study the possibility of building a new seaport, which will help relocate people from smaller islands to safer ground. Such projects can be a beacon of hope for vulnerable populations everywhere.

In the Caribbean, where violent storms and rising temperatures are straining water infrastructure and the surrounding seas and marine ecosystems, an EU-backed water management and clean oceans programme will provide expert support to launch water projects in 15 Caribbean countries. This work will improve water security, sanitation, solid-waste management, and flood protection, as well as helping to preserve our oceans.

The EU and EIB are also pooling resources to transform the way Cabo Verde (an island country off the coast of West Africa) uses and produces energy. This ambitious project will assist the government’s plan to phase out fossil fuels by 2040. By focusing on renewable energy and storage, it will cut pollution and significantly benefit Cabo Verde’s water sector, which relies heavily on desalination – a highly energy-intensive process. With far-reaching environmental and economic benefits, such investments will make Cabo Verde a model for sustainable development across the region.

Finally, in Barbados, we are supporting investments to help deal with floods and hurricanes. One project, in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, will improve sewage treatment and groundwater management, and we are also supporting a system to recycle wastewater for agricultural use. To enable these investments, we are funding a “debt for climate conversion” programme that responds to Barbados’s particular financial needs in the bond market.

These projects demonstrate what meaningful support for small island states looks like. The Global Gateway programme is helping not only with adaptation and water security, but also with renewable energy, digital innovation, education, health care, and green transportation.

In each case, we need to think differently, because we are confronting challenges that none of us has seen before. Tackling climate change is the most important mission of our time, and innovation and new ideas are essential. By working together to implement them, we will provide a better world for the world’s most vulnerable populations – and for us all.

Nadia Calviño is President of the European Investment Bank. Jutta Urpilainen is European Commissioner for International Partnerships.

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2024.

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