By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE small island states most susceptible to natural disasters as a result of climate change are often not able to apply for climate financing due to the “hoops” they must jump through, said Attorney General Ryan Pinder yesterday.

Speaking at Climate Week in New York yesterday, Mr Pinder suggested a vulnerability index be used to determine which countries should be granted access to funding.

“The excessive conditionalities is an important component when you think about climate finance, and especially concessionary climate finance, the hoops that a small country like The Bahamas has to jump through to even be able to try to access those are significant,” said Mr Pinder.

“But some of the changes that we think need to happen is The Bahamas is regarded as having a high GDP per capita income. That means that we get graduated out of many of the concessionary frameworks... So automatically, we don’t qualify for a lot.

“What we want to see is we want to see a vulnerability index being used when you talk about concessionary financing. Who are the most vulnerable countries? What does vulnerability mean? And those should be the ones who get first priority to concessionary financing?”

He said it is “frustrating” small island states must borrow funds at high interest rates to rebuild after natural disasters from the countries with major emissions.

“It’s very frustrating that we have a climate crisis that affects The Bahamas and other small island developing states,” said Mr Pinder. “We have hurricanes that come through and do massive damage year after year, island after island, and then we have to go out and borrow at high interest rates just to rebuild. And it’s a perpetual cycle, and we’re borrowing from the same countries who have caused the climate crisis that we’re borrowing for to rebuild. So it’s a crazy cycle. It’s circular, and it really puts countries like The Bahamas in a situation where it’s a perpetual end, and at some point in time that your debt burden becomes so large you can’t now develop your country, and you can’t now develop your people, and then it all blows up. And guess who steps in the IMF… fun,fun.”

He said The Bahamas has requested an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice to hold large emitters liable and a positive ruling would set the stage to provide climate financing and sovereign debt forgiveness for vulnerable countries.

“We believe that you have to be forceful as a jurisdiction, especially a jurisdiction who is most vulnerable,” said Mr Pinder.

“We are very active at the International Court of Justice on the request for an advisory opinion. That advisory opinion will be whether states themselves can be held liable for neglecting climate regulation, neglecting greenhouse gas regulation, and effectively perpetuating the climate crisis. We think that that’s going to be a landmark case at the International Court of Justice.

“We believe that if we can win that case and get an advisory opinion that says that states themselves have liability for failure to act in the climate crisis. That gives us a legal position and a position where we can impose liability on those who are polluting the most. And then that translates, I think, into climate finance. Translate into not only concessionary loans, maybe it translates into sovereign loan forgiveness, taking some of that debt burden off of small countries like The Bahamas, so we could actually develop for our people.”

He said a two percent tax should be levied on private companies such as fossil fuel manufacturers for climate financing.

Those funds will be placed in a pool that countries recovering from a climate change related disaster can access to ensure they can rebuild and implement adaptation and mitigation initiates.

“We believe that there should be a two percent tax on the net income of fossil fuel, petroleum manufacturers and straight down the value chain,” said Mr Pinder.

“We think that two percent tax should be a global tax that goes into a fund to help fund vulnerabilities as a result of the climate crisis, and we’re glad we were able to get environment tagged to tax in the tax convention terms of reference. And these are the types of things that we’re going to be advocating, because really it shouldn’t only be the countries we’ve talked about the ICJ matter that are liable.

“We think private companies who have ignored in the face of hard evidence over the decades and generations of what they are doing to the world, should now pay and should now pay those who are most vulnerable. So if we can set up a mechanism whereby it’s not concessionary loans and it’s really a pool of funds that are available to those who are vulnerable. I think that creates some simplification. Then you just have to qualify and show that what you’re using the money is really for proper adaptation and mitigation efforts.”