Antigua and Barbuda Calls for Just Climate Finance and Energy Transition at UNGA80

Prime Minister Gaston Browne, has once again positioned the twin-island nation at the forefront of the global climate justice movement.

Addressing the 80th United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Browne pressed world leaders to embrace bold reforms in climate finance and a fairer global energy transition, warning that small and vulnerable nations can no longer carry the heaviest costs of a crisis they did not cause.

“The climate crisis is not a forecast for my people—it is a daily reality,” Browne declared. “Our shores retreat, storms intensify, droughts devastate. Justice demands that those who contributed most to this destruction pay their fair share for the solutions.”

The Prime Minister laid out a five-point plan for achieving fairness in climate finance. First, he called for a global levy on the largest corporate and state emitters, directing the proceeds toward adaptation, loss and damage, and resilience projects. He urged the immediate operationalization of the long-promised Loss and Damage Fund, insisting that it must be front-loaded, predictable, and triggered by objective criteria so that support reaches nations “at the speed of need.”

He further demanded the adoption of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) across all international financial institutions, allowing concessional financing based on climate and structural vulnerabilities rather than outdated income classifications. Browne also called for more equitable debt terms, including longer repayment periods, fixed low interest rates, generous grace periods, and climate-resilient debt clauses that automatically pause payments after verified disasters.

Importantly, the Prime Minister stressed that vulnerable states must be offered the option of borrowing in domestic currencies, eliminating foreign-exchange penalties that inflate debt burdens without providing additional value.

“Debt swells and resilience stalls when we are forced to rebuild with expensive borrowing,” Browne warned. “We need justice in finance—not charity. Fair terms for vulnerable nations are the minimum price of survival.”

With Antigua and Barbuda long recognized as one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, Browne’s intervention at UNGA80 underscores his government’s continued push to hold major emitters accountable while fighting for more equitable terms of survival for Small Island Developing States.