COP29 as a ‘finance COP’ must recognise the challenges faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to access climate finance due to their small economies, limited resources, and geographic remoteness.

Samoa, as the Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), issued the rallying call during the Leaders' Summit of SIDS on Climate Change held in Baku, Azerbaijan, where the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) continues.

The work towards a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is a key issue in Baku and could define the success or failure of this latest global meeting on climate change.

Samoa’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster reminded the Summit that the special needs and circumstances of SIDS were recognised at the Rio Conference in 1992, and are also reflected in Article 9 of the Paris Agreement.

Given the focus of COP29 on NCQG, Toeolesulusulu said: “Our small economies, limited resources, and our geographic remoteness must be fully addressed within the NCQG design and implementation. Agreement to a goal that fails to recognise the special case of SIDS would contradict the Convention’s and Paris Agreement’s provisions.”

Toeolesulusulu is amongst more than 300 delegates from Pacific countries who have travelled to Baku to advocate for the survival of Pacific communities placed at the forefront of worsening climate change impacts. Pacific countries, who are also members of AOSIS along with the Caribbean, African, Indian and South China Seas States, work together strategically to amplify the call for 1.5 to Stay Alive in different negotiation areas.

At the Caspian Plenary on Wednesday, the AOSIS Chair reminded leaders about the grim reality of climate change.

“2024 broke many new worrisome records. We have seen many extreme weather events all around the world from record-breaking heat globally,” Toeolesulusulu said.

“June and August 2024 were the hottest on record globally. July 2024 set a new record for the daily global average temperature. Hurricane Beryl was the first major storm of the 2024 Atlantic season and set multiple records.

“Extreme rainfalls caused catastrophic flooding and loss of lives in some parts of the world, while droughts are worsening in others. The winter maximum for Antarctic ice sea ice was the second lowest on record.”

Describing these extreme weather events as the “new normal”, Minister Toeolesulusulu highlighted the irony.

“The very survival of the most vulnerable countries with the least responsibility in the climate crisis has ceased to be a distant prospect. The irreversible damage from climate change impacts are already being felt by SIDS, they must be addressed with a keen sense of urgency. For AOSIS, 1.5C is not just an abstract number. It has deep implications for the complete loss of our nations, our culture and our identity.”

On NCQG, Toeolesulusulu said this must support all developing countries in their effective implementation of the Paris Agreements, its goals and all those commitments contained under it.

“That said, SIDS and LDCs within that broader group of developing countries were promised special accommodations in Article 9 of the Paris Agreement. AOSIS is here at this COP to see them be operationalised. And for clarity, a simple references or recognition to SIDS and LDCs special circumstances will not suffice,” the AOSIS Chair pointed out.

“In the NCQG, there needs to be tailored and specific measures for both our groups for the scaled-up provision of finance and enhanced access. One of those measures includes the adoption of respective minimum allocation floors for SIDS (at least USD 39 billion per year) and LDCs (at least USD 220 billion per year) within the provision goal of the NCQG.

“So, no matter the overall number agreed for the quantum of the NCQG, SIDS require the agreement to these minimum allocation floors. As these minimum allocation floors represent a commitment to predicable and accessible climate finance for our adaptation and loss and damage response in a financial system that is designed for us.”

The SIDS Summit, chaired by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Patricia Scotland was attended by Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General.

The Summit was told that climate change-induced weather events can destroy decades of development and infrastructure gains and often burden SIDS with mounting debt.

At COP29, Toeolesulusulu said world leaders need to show the political will to act now. 

“At COP26, we were promised the ‘doubling of adaptation financing’, and we were assured that our partners were working towards raising these funds. But since then, access to adaptation finance has remained challenging for us.

“As countries with the least capacity and resources to implement adaptation actions, we require grant-based financing to meet our urgent adaptation needs. Therefore, careful consideration of how to operationalise the doubling of adaptation finance and integrating it into the new goal must also be part of the agreement at this COP."

On the newly established Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, COP29 was urged to ensure the complementarity and coherence among all funding arrangements.

“Now that we have agreed on a set of institutional arrangements for the Fund, it is critical that it is fully operationalised, capitalised and begins to disburse finance for loss and damage as quickly as possible.”