Vice President Latheef Calls for Unified Commonwealth Response to Escalating Climate Crisis

Vice President His Excellency Uz Hussain Mohamed Latheef has called for a unified and urgent response from the Commonwealth to address the intensifying climate crisis. Speaking at the CHOGM Climate Breakfast: Building Consensus for Climate Finance Targets, Vice President Latheef stressed the disproportionate impact of global warming on vulnerable populations, particularly within the Commonwealth.

Highlighting the critical need for sustainable and predictable climate finance, he called for a new collective quantified goal exceeding the current USD 100 billion per year target, with specific sub-goals for loss and damage, mitigation, and adaptation. He emphasized that these financial commitments must be formalized at COP29 to ensure long-term climate resilience, especially for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Vice President Latheef praised the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub for its support in helping countries like the Maldives overcome barriers to accessing funds. He urged the Commonwealth members to submit more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), guided by the global stocktake, in order to steer efforts back towards limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Climate Breakfast, organized by the Commonwealth Secretariat, is part of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa. Vice President Latheef is leading the Maldives delegation at the event.