Shastri Boodan
Regional countries struggle with debt to get the resources to deal with the effects of climate change. This point was underscored by former Central Bank Governor and Economist Jawala Rambarran.
He said Caribbean people are paying for the impacts of climate change even though the region contributes below zero percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
He was at the time delivering the feature address when the Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CCIC) held its annual Christmas function and awards at the Passage to Asia Restaurant Chaguanas on Saturday.
Rambarran said according to a 2023 European Union report on global greenhouse gas emissions, Caribbean countries produce negligible emissions that it is recorded at zero percent. T&T is the only Caribbean country that registers the highest share of emissions at 0.09 percent “Caribbean countries are disproportionately and tragically affected by the climate crisis which they did not create.”
He said effectively fighting climate change may cost around $55 Billion USD to finance climate ambitions by 2030 which represents 75 percent of the region's combined GDP. He said this figure is beyond the reach of many Caribbean countries, many of which are already grappling with a silent debt crisis.
Rambarran said promises for financial assistance never materialized. “At COP 15 held in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2009 the global north governments committed to provide $100 billion USD every year to global south countries by 2020 to help them fight climate change. That promise was not kept. Six years later at COP 21 held in Paris (France), the wealthy countries then committed to contribute $100 billion US a year between 2020 and 2025. As of today, almost 15 years since that first pledge was made, the rich industrialised countries have not kept their climate promise.”
He said climate finance in the region comes in the form of high cost loans from rich countries adding to unsustainable debt. He said most Caribbean countries are ranked between middle to high income states making it impossible to get development assistance at concessional borrowing rates from the World Bank and other donors.
He said at COP 27 in Egypt the Bridgetown Initiative was unveiled. This proposal aims to increase to $ 1 Trillion USD the amount of financial resources developing countries need to deal with the climate crisis and debt in a bid to reform development finance.
He said one proposal was to suspend debt interest payments when a country is hit by a natural disaster so a country can get some breathing space.
