Ahead of the up­com­ing Unit­ed Na­tions Bonn Cli­mate Change Con­fer­ence, small is­land de­vel­op­ing states (SIDS) are de­mand­ing a com­plete over­haul of the glob­al fi­nan­cial ar­chi­tec­ture and a rapid ac­cel­er­a­tion of glob­al emis­sions re­duc­tions.

At the "New Tools to Save 1.5°C" fo­rum host­ed by the Al­liance of Small Is­land States (AO­SIS), lead­ers warned that wealthy, high-emit­ting na­tions must dis­man­tle ex­ist­ing eco­nom­ic bar­ri­ers to al­low vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties to sur­vive es­ca­lat­ing cli­mate shocks.

The fea­tured speak­er, An­tigua and Bar­bu­da’s Min­is­ter of Health, Well­ness, En­vi­ron­ment and Civ­il Ser­vice Af­fairs, Michael Joseph, de­liv­ered an ur­gent plea for fair­ness. Joseph em­pha­sized that while small is­lands con­tribute the least to glob­al green­house gas emis­sions, they en­dure dis­pro­por­tion­ate dam­age.