As hosts of the COP26 Climate Change conference this November in Glasgow, Scotland, the UK is committed to supporting small island states and climatevulnerable countries. Ahead of COP26, the UK will amplify their voices, facilitate access to finance to help build resilience, and support a green recovery and protection of their biodiversity. Mauritius and Rodrigues are very much part of this.

Just a few months ago, on 12 November, the British High Commission in partnership with the Government of Mauritius and the United Nations hosted a ‘One Year to COP26’ event as a means of raising awareness and encouraging ambition towards November 2021. I was delighted that Minister Ramano joined us and confirmed that Mauritius had already initiated actions to review its National Determined Contributions (NDC) and was confident that up-scaled commitments would be submitted before COP26. The Minister believed that the new Climate Bill, which I was pleased to see adopted before Christmas, would be a turning point to allow for the optimum coordination and mainstreaming of climate change across all sectors.

Encouraged by what I had heard in Mauritius, I was keen to see what was happening in beautiful Rodrigues, so paid a visit in late November. I had an excellent meeting with Chief Commissioner Clair and Environment Commissioner Payendee. I was struck by Commissioner Clair’s very passionate climate ambitions for Rodrigues. That passion was very clear from his words: ‘Rodrigues has to be an example in Mauritius, the Indian Ocean and the world’. We agreed that it would be highly appropriate for us to host a COP26 event in Rodrigues to highlight the challenges faced by small islands and also to underline the important actions that are being taken by Rodrigues to address climate change. I am excited that our event, ‘COP26: Climate Voices and Ambitions of Rodrigues’, will take place on 25 February.

The UK, as COP26 President, is committed to working with governments, civil society, companies, and communities worldwide to tackle climate change. As the world recovers from COVID-19, we must work together to build back better and ensure economic recoveries are green and resilient and support our shared objectives for the climate. In doing so, we must help those worst-affected by the double tragedy of COVID-19 and climate change to adapt and come back stronger and more resilient.

Governments are under pressure to do all they can to support business and employees. The UK is a leading trade and investment partner of Mauritius and is working hard with the EDB, MCCI and others to support business and jobs, which will help to mitigate the impact. Our Department for International Trade (DIT) team at the High Commission is ready to help.

One of my favourite things to do in Rodrigues is to take long walks along the coast and to marvel at the beauty of the ocean and beaches. We have unfortunately seen for ourselves just how vulnerable islands are to climate change and environmental disaster. We were all shocked to see the devastating damage done to the precious marine environment in Mauritius following the disastrous oil spill in August. I joined Ministers and others to help clean-up one of the affected beaches shortly after the spill. It was very sad to see.

The UK deployed experts, including marine scientists from the UK’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aqua Culture Sciences (Cefas), to help with impact assessment and environmental monitoring. I am pleased to see that this support continues today. The Mauritian people who came together to create home-made booms and other equipment to save their precious environment did an amazing job. We were pleased to support the work of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and other NGOs and environmental organisations who do so much to conserve nature for future generations.

Here in Rodrigues, the UK has been a strong supporter of the vital work undertaken by NGOs to protect and conserve the environment. The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and Shoals Rodrigues have both received funding to continue their important work, not only protecting the environment but also supporting communities who have had their livelihoods affected by COVID-19 and climate change, including those who relied on the ocean. The threat to Mauritius, Rodrigues and other Small Island Developing States is very real. Small Island Developing States protect 30% of the world’s oceans, containing precious and fragile ecosystems. They are under threat from sea level rise and natural disasters.

The UK has committed to doubling our International Climate Finance expenditure to at least £11.6 billion between 2021 and 2025, and we are asking other donor countries to match the scale of our ambition. The Mauritius-based Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub has an import role to play in securing climate finance, including for Small Island Developing States. Thank you Mauritius for hosting the Hub. The UK, along with our Australian friends, were pleased to have provided the majority of the funding.

On 12 December last year, the UK, France and the UN, along with our partners Chile and Italy, hosted a virtual leader-level Climate Ambition Summit to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement. This summit brought together over 90 countries, including 75 world leaders, to set out their ambitious plans and make new commitments. Announcements made on or before the summit mean that countries representing around 65% of global CO2 emissions and around 70% of the world’s economy, will have committed to reaching net zero emissions or carbon neutrality. Shortly before the summit, UK Prime Minister Johnson announced an ambitious new NDC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68% by 2030 to 1990 levels. This target is ambitious, but deliverable, and commits the UK to the fastest rate of emissions reductions of any major economy.

I was pleased that Prime Minister Jugnauth also participated and spoke about action being taken in Mauritius, including the ambition to achieve lowemission economy status and aiming at carbon neutrality by 2070. The Prime Minister confirmed that 40% of the national energy requirement would come from renewable sources by 2030.

Another significant development in January was the extremely important news from US President Biden that the US had rejoined the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and would host a Leaders’ Climate Summit in April.

At the Netherlands-hosted Climate Adaptation Summit in January, COP26 President-Designate, Alok Sharma said that ‘we know that the most vulnerable are at the greatest risk from climate change, and that they have done the least to cause it. Action to address this and build resilience is needed now, before more people lose lives or livelihoods.’ UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he would ‘making the need for a resilient recovery a priority of the UK’s G7 presidency this year.’ At the summit, the Prime Minister launched an all-new Adaptation Action Coalition to set the agenda ahead of COP26. This Coalition will work to turn international political commitments made through the United Nations Call for Action on Adaptation and Resilience into on-the-ground support for vulnerable communities.

We are eager to support climatevulnerable countries in making a just transition to clean energy. This is critical to ensuring emissions are reduced in time to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. As an example of what we are doing in the UK, we produce more electricity from offshore wind than anywhere else in the world. The cost of producing has fallen by 65% since 2015. Offshore wind will power every home in the UK by 2030. Renewable energy was the UK’s biggest source of electricity for the first time in 2020. Wind, solar, bio energy and hydropower generated 42% of UK power last year, a huge transformation from just 7% a decade ago.

We all have a role in increasing global momentum on climate action. We owe it to current and future generations to base our recovery on solid foundations, including a fairer, greener, and more resilient global economy. We all need to raise our ambition. We can and must do better.

I thank the Regional Assembly of Rodrigues, the Government of Mauritius, UN agencies, private sector, civil society, NGOs and the Youth for partnering with us on the ‘COP26: Climate Voices and Ambitions of Rodrigues’ event on 25 February and encourage everyone to commit to an ambitious and shared plan of action at COP26. Only by working together can we truly protect our climate and precious environments like Rodrigues for future generations. 

Keith ALLAN

British High Commissioner