United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told small island leaders at COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan that they “have every right to be angry.”

The Small Island Developing States, including Fiji, a group of 39 member states and 18 associate members, are recognized by the United Nations as particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and more extreme weather events.

These challenges are exacerbated by the continued and historic burning of coal, oil, and gas, contributing to global warming.

Guterres says the G20 accounts for around eighty percent of global emissions and this injustice must end.

“You are on the sharp end of a colossal injustice. An injustice that sees the very future of your islands threatened by rising seas. Your people pounded by record hurricanes. Your economies torn apart. And development gains left in tatters. This is an injustice perpetrated by the few.”

Guterres further states that world leaders must get serious about the loss and damage fund.

“The amount initially pledged is equivalent to the combined annual salaries of the ten wealthiest paid footballers in the world. We need significant contributions flowing to the loss and damage funds so it can have a meaningful impact and namely a meaningful impact in SIDS”

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev also addressed delegates, taking aim at Europe, saying French and Netherlands’ overseas territories are some of the worst affected by climate change.

Aliyev then lashed out at EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, over remarks he made in 2022, when he called Europe “a garden” and most of the world a “jungle” that “could invade the garden”.

“If we are jungles, then stay away from us and don’t interfere into our affairs,” Aliyev said.

Back in 2022 Borrell denied that the comments he made were racist and apologised for any offence caused by the remarks that had prompted criticism at the time.

The annual climate talks are a chance for small island countries to pressure G20 governments to take far more ambitious steps to reduce emissions.

Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis says people have the right to survival.

“They have a right to pass down to future generations, a world better than the one they inherited. And yet this most basic right, this right to life to hope, to continuity hangs by a thread. In this hour of crisis, it seems some would choose isolation over unity, self-interest over collective action. But we the nation’s most at risk do not have the luxury to retreat.”

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine says she travelled far to attend the conference, because she believed the Paris Agreement holds the key to her country’s future.

“Too many times our voices have been pushed to the margins, we are therefore grateful to our hosts for convening this gathering. I urge you to continue to ensure our ministers and negotiators are centrally involved all the way through this conference. We are the ones on the front of the front lines of climate change.”

In 2009, wealthy countries promised to contribute $100 billion a year to help developing nations shift to clean energy and adapt to climate change.

However, these payments were only fully met in 2022, and the pledge expires this year.