Addressing delegates gathered at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) hosted in Antalya, Türkiye on November 12, Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, issued a sweeping, urgent call to the global community to step up climate ambition, deliver equitable, large-scale financial support, and move beyond decades of incremental negotiation to concrete action that shields Small Island Developing States (SIDS) from cascading, life-threatening climate harms.
Framing the crisis as an existential threat that puts the very sovereignty of small island nations at risk, Browne laid out a stark evidence base for his demands, citing the latest UN Emissions Gap Report projections that show the planet is on track to hit 2.6 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century even if all current national climate pledges are fully fulfilled. He emphasized that every 0.1 degree of avoided warming directly prevents irreversible loss for vulnerable island populations, and pressed high-emitting wealthy nations to drastically accelerate domestic emissions cuts to keep the critical 1.5-degree Celsius global warming threshold within reach.
A core pillar of Browne’s address centered on longstanding gaps in climate finance that have left SIDS trapped between mounting climate damage and unsustainable debt burdens. He laid out a clear, actionable roadmap for scaled support, calling for a credible, time-bound framework to triple global adaptation finance by 2035, unlock a minimum of $300 billion in annual dedicated climate support for vulnerable nations, and scale total global climate financing to $1.3 trillion per year. Crucially, he specified that this support must be structured as largely grant-based, predictable, and low-cost, rejecting any new loans that would deepen the debt crisis for nations that contributed less than 1% of historical global emissions but bear 75% of the cost of climate impacts.
Browne also pushed for targeted institutional reforms to streamline access to critical climate funds, including an ambitious third replenishment of the Green Climate Fund, simplified application processes that cut through bureaucratic red tape for small island governments, and full, adequate capitalization of the landmark Loss and Damage Fund established to compensate nations for irreversible climate harms. “We are not here begging for charity,” Browne told the assembly. “We are demanding basic fairness, long-overdue climate justice, and the resources we need to safeguard the lives, lands and futures of our people.”
Closing his national statement, Browne reaffirmed Antigua and Barbuda’s commitment to partnering with all global stakeholders to advance more robust climate commitments, but cautioned world leaders against repeating the cycle of unfulfilled pledges that has defined past COP gatherings. He called on COP31 to be a historic inflection point for global climate governance: a moment where empty rhetoric gives way to measurable action, unmet promises translate to tangible investment, and abstract commitments finally deliver the climate justice that the world’s most vulnerable populations have been waiting decades to receive.
Prime Minister Browne calls for climate justice and increased financing at COP31
