The Resolution on ‘Enhanced Access to Climate Financing”, tabled by the Barbados delegation to the Organization of American States (OAS), was successfully adopted at the 53rd Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly, on Friday, June 23, 2023.
The resolution enjoyed the co-sponsorship of 18 OAS Member States, including all CARICOM countries, as well as Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and the United States.
The co-sponsorships of both the United States of America and Canada have been lauded as historic, as it is the first time these countries have co-sponsored a resolution on enhanced access to financing within the context of the OAS.
The adoption of this resolution coincides with Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley’s successful lobbying to coalesce global political support for the Bridgetown Initiative. Particularly powerful was her participation at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris with President Macron and other influential global leaders, including the German Chancellor, the President of Brazil, the Prime Minister of China, the new President of the World Bank and the US Treasury Secretary.
The leaders had gathered to discuss innovative tools, among them, the Bridgetown Initiative, aimed at assisting developing economies tackle indebtedness, advance their sustainable development, and fight against the global climate crisis.
The decision to bring this Resolution to the OAS was centred on the need to garner political support from member countries of the Hemisphere for the Bridgetown Initiative and its goals.
Click here to download Barbados’ statement at the 53rd Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly
It is against this backdrop that the Government of Barbados is pioneering the Bridgetown Initiative across the world. The Bridgetown Initiative calls for the comprehensive reform of the current global financial system to enable the mobilisation of additional financing for climate transition and improved resilience in frontier countries, through the implementation of six key action areas.
“As PM Mottley states, the Bridgetown Initiative is about securing a new financing deal, not just for Barbados, but for the world,” Ambassador Noel Lynch stated.
There is wide recognition that adaptation and mitigation efforts by small developing countries, which are already some of the most indebted countries in the world, are even more compounded as they must now seek additional resources to finance the climate fight. It is projected that in the developing world, countries will need much more financial resources than had been originally envisioned or estimated to battle the adverse effects of climate change.
This resolution, while highlighting the dire need for increased climate financing for countries in the hemisphere, especially given the demonstrated increase in the frequency and intensity of climate events, calls on Member States to support ongoing efforts to reform the global financial architecture and promote discussions on the Bridgetown Initiative, and other innovative efforts aimed at increasing climate financing. It also calls on the General Secretariat to facilitate discussions on the Bridgetown Initiative with the Inter-American System.