Another cry for climate justice

by Kari Grenade, PhD, Regional Economist and Macroeconomic Advisor

Imagine relaxing on your verandah after a long and challenging day when suddenly a monster truck crashes into your car that is parked in your driveway.

The disruption of your relaxing evening is bad enough, but to your horror, the driver of the monster truck gets out and demands that you pay for your own loss and damage! I’ve used this simple scenario to illustrate in a real sense what climate injustice is to us in the Caribbean, who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

On Monday, 1 July 2024, I experienced the horror of Category 4 Hurricane Beryl as it buffeted my beloved country of Grenada, particularly the sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Initial anecdotes suggest that there were 3 deaths, and about 98% of all buildings in Carriacou and Petite Martinique were either destroyed or extensively damaged. At the time of typing this article, Hurricane Beryl was making landfall in Jamaica, with potentially catastrophic impacts.

Here we go again, another active hurricane season, which can potentially set the region back decades, but I decree and declare in the mighty name of God, that this will not be our fate. We will continue to advocate, agitate, lobby, cry out, do whatever we must to get climate justice! It is well known that Caribbean countries contribute insignificantly to global greenhouse gas emissions but are disproportionately affected relative to the large emitter countries, whose activities are contributing to climate change. It is time for those countries whose activities are contributing the most to climate change to pay for damages caused. I am convinced that if the consequences of climate change were felt disproportionately by those whose activities have contributed to it, the outrageous emissions of green gas emissions would have stopped long ago, and the green transition would have been further along.

The fact that Caribbean countries are small contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions does not absolve them, individually and as a collective, from taking full responsibility for building climate resilience and reducing disaster risks. Indeed, Caribbean countries have no choice but to mainstream climate adaptation and mitigation considerations in all development programmes, policies, and practices. And they are incurring massive amounts of debt to do so; debts that will be repaid by generations to come. This is akin to trying to climb the proverbial development escalation that is going down; it is immoral and an unsustainable way to live. As economists say, what is unsustainable must eventually end.

It is my hope that the Caribbean and other vulnerable regions will finally get climate justice through potent actions arising from the Bridgetown Initiative, which sets out an ambitious (but much-needed) agenda for a fundamental overhaul of the global financial architecture. I also hope that the United Nations’ Loss and Damage Fund will be funded and operationalised soon, and, importantly, the Caribbean will have easy access to it once operational.

Finally, I urge my fellow Caribbean brothers and sisters to continue being climate-smart and environmentally conscious. A hurricane is a natural hazard, which need not result in a natural disaster; a natural hazard only becomes a disaster when the conditions on the ground are conducive. Therefore, let us become intentional about engaging in climate-smart practices such as complying with building codes, stopping deforestation, disposing of garbage properly, not building in flood-prone areas for example.

My solidarity with all those adversely affected by Hurricane Beryl. We will rise from the rubble because overcoming is in our collective DNAs.