The Tribune

By GINA MCCARTHY

and CRAIG COGUT

THANKS to the voices of developing world leaders such as Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis and Gabon’s President Ali Bongo at the recent United Nations conference on climate change, there is now a global agreement on establishment of a fund to compensate poor nations for the excesses of developed countries. A committee of 24 countries, drawn from nations rich and poor, will hammered out the details of how payments will be made.

This agreement is long overdue and should be implemented quickly given that the US and Europe are responsible for more than half of global ecological destruction over the past 50 years while countries with limited financial resources like Caribbean island nations have been bearing the brunt of extreme floods, heat, hurricanes, wildfires and more.

The eastern and southern Caribbean region and Latin American region accounts for only 0.17% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet, the Caribbean depends disproportionately on sectors that are among the most vulnerable to climate shocks such as tourism, agriculture, and fishing. Sea levels in the region continue to rise at a faster rate than globally. Coral reefs — a key source of food and tourism for Caribbean islands — are dying from warming temperatures, with bleaching, disease, acidification, and physical damage from increased hurricane activity. Increased temperatures and longer dry seasons have contributed to a massive reduction in agricultural productivity. These trends are expected to continue, increasing the risk of acute food insecurity, malnutrition, and economic stagnation.

For the world to succeed in tackling the climate crisis, every country must be given the opportunity and support they need to build a climate strategy that works for them and their people. But Caribbean islands don’t just need reparations, they need private and non-profit investors willing to work with government leaders to provide real and lasting climate finance. The time is now to move beyond one-off investments in carbon reducing projects that are not part and parcel of sound economic country-by-country strategies that can deliver the transformation that climate change demands.

Just as we learned in the US with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, we already have clean energy technologies and low-carbon products and practices that offer cost-effective solutions to tackle our climate crisis in ways that improve people’s lives today. Deployment of these climate solutions at scale, across the developing world, is essential to build strong economies, to lift up the most vulnerable people in the developing world, and to make the world safer and more secure. Prime Minister Davis of the Bahamas articulated his vision for such a comprehensive strategy on Grand Bahama, which has seen its economic fortunes languish as climate change has taken a toll on infrastructure and ecology on the island.

It is high time that government leaders from the developing world be given the support they need to define their clean energy and economic security paths forward to open up private investments that work for them and all of us - with the help of Multilateral Development Banks that focus on their mission instead of gold stars and higher returns.

For far too long, we have been touting and even rewarding international investments in new solar arrays in small island nations while new LNG terminals pop up along the shore and now hang like an albatross around their necks and ours. We have been watching developing countries take on the burden of high-cost desalination plants when investments in water and wastewater infrastructure could deliver clean water at a fraction of the cost. We have been touting GMO’s and new fertilisers to “enhance food security” in the Caribbean, rather than supporting local farmers by investing in infrastructure that would significantly reduce crop loss, build new supply chains that open up markets, and retain huge amounts of carbon in the soil.

But we remain stubbornly hopeful that 2023 will be the year when governments and the private and non-profit sectors across the world move beyond project-by-project cost benefit analysis to strategic investments and partnerships that are mobilised to deliver the transition to clean energy at scale in ways that build a healthier, more secure world for all of us.

We can invest in the restoration of coral reefs in small island nations like The Bahamas — whose longest contiguous reef is along Grand Bahama — to overcome decades of damage from shipping and commercial overfishing, so they can restore fish stocks vital to their sustenance and economic vitality and better protect their critical infrastructure from climate-related extreme weather events?

Yes, 2023 must be the year when we quickly start up reparation and loss payments, but it also must be the year when we truly launch a world-wide response to the biggest threat facing our world today. We have solutions we can deploy at scale. We have engaged, thoughtful leaders across the developing world, private companies and non-profit organisations ready to invest and reinvest. Together, we can outline a path for economic growth and development that’s inclusive and sustainable.

• Gina McCarthy served as US President Joe Biden’s National Climate Advisor. Previously, she served as US President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. She is now an Operating Advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors.

Craig Cogut is CEO of Pegasus Capital Advisors, the first and only US Fund Manager accredited to invest the UN-administered Green Climate Fund. Pegasus, together with Weller Development Corporation, is building the world’s leading luxury eco-hotel “Six Senses” on Grand Bahama, part of a larger vision for sustainable development on the island.