Barbados PM defends fossil fuel exploration off coast of island-nation

Climate champion and prime minister of Barbados Mia Mottley has defended her country’s plans to resume fossil fuel exploration off its coast, saying that developing nations deserved “equity” and needed the revenue from oil and gas sales to finance the shift to clean energy.

Developing countries needed “a way to finance our route to net zero,” and if the wealthy nations that “caused the problems” would not provide funding, they would need to find other ways to generate revenue, such as exporting fossil fuels, she said. “There has to be equity.”

She and leaders from other small island states have stressed the need for developed countries to help poorer and indebted nations cope with and adapt to the effects of climate change.