Mia Mottley, the climate-championing prime minister of Barbados, has invited Donald Trump to a face-to-face meeting where she would seek common ground and persuade him that climate action was in his own interests. "Let us find a common purpose in saving the planet and saving livelihoods," she told the Guardian at the UN's Cop29 climate summit in Azerbaijan. We are human beings and we have the capacity to meet face-to-face, in spite of our differences."
Since taking to the stage at Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021 with an impassioned speech demanding world leaders try harder to avoid passing a death sentence on her country, Mottley has gained a global reputation as a formidable champion of developing countries most affected by climate breakdown. She has led a movement among developing and some developed countries to change the global financial system to generate the funds needed to shift the world to a low-carbon economy.
The re-election of Trump has thrown a deep shadow over Cop29, with scores of world leaders attending the summit while heads of government from the world's biggest economies mostly stayed away. Delegates fear Trump will withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, dismantle regulations and climate targets, and push forward with plans to drill for more fossil fuels.
Only by personal meetings among world leaders can the massive changes needed on climate action be achieved, Mia Mottley believes. She emphasized that personal dialogue could lead to effective solutions, aligning with Trump's acknowledgment of the importance of face-to-face conversations, highlighting a shared responsibility in addressing climate issues.
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