Mr Wayne King, a Cook Islands negotiator is supporting lead coordination of the Climate Finance issue for the Pacific Small Islands Developing States at COP28.
8 December 2023, UAE – Climate Finance is always a high-priority issue for the Pacific Small Islands Developing States at the Climate Change Conferences of the Parties. For COP28 this is especially true with the Global Stocktake being the theme of the UN Climate Change Conference.
Being on the frontlines, and amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, the Pacific Small Islands Developing States are negotiating to ensure there is sufficient support for the climate financing of all outcomes from the GST to ensure the world is on track to meeting the Paris Agreement. Other key issues for the PSIDS includes ensuring there is Pacific Islands representation on the Loss and Damage Fund Board, as well as the recognition of the special circumstances of SIDS such as levels of indebtedness so that our islands are awarded climate grants as opposed to climate loans.
We spoke to Wayne King for further insight.
Q. Can you tell us more as to what it is that our Pacific Islands are hoping to go home with from COP28 when it comes to climate finance?
A. I think firstly the major priority for all of us beyond now the Loss and Damage finance agreement, which does require more work, is to be refocused on the GST. The GST is like an overarching monitoring program which under everything falls under such as finance and mitigation and adaptation. The GST covers these big thematic windows like mitigation and the phasing out of fossil fuels, such as adaptation and the global goal, as well as Loss and Damage, so when it comes to implementing the work required to ensure we are on the right course to meet the Paris Agreement we need to know how much it is all going to cost and that’s where the finance part come.
The GST is a critical thing that we want to agree to here because it’s a monitoring programme from when the Paris Agreement came into force, to where we are today. It’s an inventory to help us look forward to what we need to do to meet the 1.5 goal of the Paris Agreement and everything wrapped up in it, so without a doubt this is a big focus when it comes to climate finance.
Q. Now that we are mid-week in the climate change negotiations, how are we doing?
A. I think we are right at the point with those key subjects – we’re not in agreement with all that is being put before us right now, I do think we are going to need to go into this political phase having the decisions being elevated up for which we need our Pacific Ministers to understand what it is that we are going for and having their officials support them as we’ll need to hear more statements being made on the floor.
Q. What are our next steps and plans to help us achieve our goals?
A. As we go into the last week we may have a situation where our ministers may actually need to be negotiating in closed rooms. We may have our ministers working long days and possibly long nights if we don’t see any progress, and at the end of the day that’s what we want. Everyone wants to leave COP28 with something, that’s the art of compromise – everyone gives up something, but the question is, what are we going to give up?
The 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP28) in Dubai, UAE is taking place from Thursday 30 November 2023 – Tuesday 12 December 2023.
It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for the survival of Pacific communities that continue to be at the forefront of climate change impacts.