President Dr Mohamed Muizzu has set out three priorities for collective climate action during the Maldives’ national statement at COP31: finance, reform and implementation.
Delivering the statement in Türkiye, the President said climate finance must be new, additional, predictable and grant-based. He called for the replenishment of the Green Climate Fund, adequate capitalisation of the Adaptation Fund and sufficient resources for the Loss and Damage Fund.
He urged international financial institutions and credit rating agencies to reassess how they evaluate climate investments, treating resilience measures as investments in the collective future rather than liabilities. The Maldives recently secured accreditation for its first national direct access entity to the Green Climate Fund, the first such accreditation for an Asian small island developing state.
The President highlighted domestic efforts to strengthen food, energy and water security through the strategic use of limited resources, and progress in expanding access to climate finance. He stressed that political commitments must be translated into tangible, measurable benefits for vulnerable countries.
The address forms part of the Maldives’ participation in the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
