REMARKS: Statement for PIF Chair by Hon. Polycarp Paea, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology of Solomon Islands

Mr. President,
Honourable Heads of Government,
Honourable Ministers,
Distinguished Colleagues,

The Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) stand today at the frontline of a
climate crisis not of our making. We contribute less than 0.03 percent of global
emissions, yet face the most devastating consequences — rising seas, intensifying
storms, and the slow erosion of our cultures, sovereignty, and livelihoods. This reality
underscores a fundamental truth: climate finance is not charity; it is an obligation
grounded in equity, responsibility, and international law.

The recent Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) reaffirmed that
developed States have binding legal obligations under international law to provide
adequate financial resources, technology transfer, and capacity support to developing
countries — particularly SIDS and LDCs — to address the impacts of climate change.
This obligation is not discretionary. It is a duty rooted in the principles of fairness and
differentiated responsibilities that form the foundation of the UNFCCC and the Paris
Agreement.

In this context, the Baku to Belém Roadmap offers a pathway for transformation, a call
to move from billions to trillions in climate finance by 2035, as articulated in the NCQG
decision. Climate Finance should be built on predictability, transparency, and justice.
The Roadmap recognises that public and grant-based resources must form the
cornerstone of climate finance, especially for adaptation and loss and damage. For
Pacific SIDS, this is vital. We cannot adapt with debt. Our economies are already
strained by high debt-to-GDP ratios; loan-based finance only compounds our
vulnerability. What we need is grant-based and concessional financing, provided in ways
that are timely, simplified, and accessible.

Solomon Islands, as Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, welcomes the Roadmap’s
emphasis on reforming multilateral development banks, enhancing concessionality, and
ensuring that SIDS and LDCs have a fair share of global finance flows. But we also
stress that these reforms must be implemented with urgency. For the Pacific, delays of
five years or more in project approvals mean lives lost, coastlines disappearing, and
cultures displaced. The global financial architecture must evolve to deliver finance at the
speed and scale of the crisis.

Finally, let me reiterate the Pacific’s collective message: climate finance is not an act of
goodwill — it is an investment in our shared humanity and a legal and moral duty. The
success of the new collective quantified goal will be measured not by pledges made, but
by resources delivered: accessible, predictable, and sufficient to meet the needs and
build resilience of those most vulnerable.

For the Pacific, climate finance is our right to survive, to thrive, and to secure a future for
generations now and yet to come.

Tagio tumas!