Minister Caddle leads Barbados delegation to COP 26 Climate Summit

For the next two weeks, From November 1-12, world leaders and international institutions will meet for what is being billed as the most important climate meeting since the Paris Agreement was signed and countries committed to limit global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius, and preferably 1.5 degrees.

It is considered a do or die moment for the survival of the world’s most vulnerable countries, including those in the Caribbean region, and a ‘put up or shut up’ moment for the developed countries that are the world’s largest emitters of the greenhouse gases responsible for increasing temperatures.

Barbados has been at the forefront of many arguments that based on the world’s current path and the likelihood that the important ‘1.5 to stay alive’ will not be met, the world must now turn its commitment to that of making sure that the most vulnerable countries have the wherewithal to adapt to and survive this warmer, more dangerous climate. Minister in Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle, whose Ministry is responsible for climate finance and the Roofs to Reefs Programme for climate resilience, leaves Monday for Glasgow, Scotland to lead a delegation of experts and negotiators from Barbados who will aim to help hold the international community accountable for promises made.

Outlining the importance of these discussions, Minister Caddle said: “For Barbados and islands like us, a warmer climate means more intense hurricanes and other weather events, and the need to help people build homes that can withstand them; it means worsening drought and having to invest more in mains replacement and water augmentation; it means more sargassum killing our marine life, and stronger storm surges threatening the coast. And that is just the beginning.”

She explained that targets and commitments are important, but mean very little without the means to execute: “This COP has to be a finance COP. Yes, there are gaps to fill on key pillars of the Paris Agreement, but how long are we going to keep negotiating an Agreement that was signed in 2015? We need to move from discussion to action. We are out of time. And the gap that matters now is finance. We want to see the 100 billion annually that was promised, and to see that split equally between activities that reduce emissions and those that help us become resilient, but that 100 billion is not enough. The finance gap is over 2 trillion a year.”

Minister Caddle further explained that Barbados has been working on some of the instruments and approaches that could help fill that gap, which she will present during separate panels with IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans and COP President Alok Sharma and others.

Prime Minister Mottley attends the 2-day Leaders’ Summit during the event. The other delegation experts are Ambassador Elizabeth Thompson, Lead Negotiator Dr. Hugh Sealy, Ricardo Marshall, Kereeta Whyte, Karima Degia and youth delegate Ashley Lashley. The team is also being supported remotely by Prof. Avinash Persaud and Travis Sinckler.