Patricia Scotland, the departing secretary general of the Commonwealth, has described the 56-member-bloc as a powerful force in the battle against climate breakdown, and urged the members to continue her legacy of supporting small and vulnerable countries.
Lady Scotland’s two-term tenure began in 2016, shortly after tropical storm Erica destroyed 95% of Dominica’s GDP. “I came in understanding that this was an immediate threat to human lives, jobs, homes, infrastructure, and our very existence, and urgent action was our only option,” she said.
She will complete her term in March next year, but this week 56 country leaders will choose her successor from three African candidates at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Samoa.
The Labour life peer and former UK attorney general is the sixth person and first woman to hold the influential post.
Scotland, who was born on the Caribbean island of Dominica, said that one of her priorities in office had been to secure financing for climate action in developing countries.
Pointing to the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl, which demolished more than 90% of buildings in parts of Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines and left thousands homeless and without running water, electricity and food, she said:
“This is the new reality that we face. Once a rare occurrence, hurricanes are severely damaging small island economies with greater intensity and regularity. In 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated my own country of birth, Dominica. In 2019, Dorian, the most powerful hurricane to ever hit the Bahamas, tore through the island nation, causing billions in damage. In 2023, Vanuatu was devastated by a category five cyclone, Lola.”
Scotland has argued that small island developing states, which have done the least to cause the climate crisis and have contributed only 1% of all global CO2 emissions, should be given easier and greater access to climate finance. She argues that their vulnerability to natural disasters should be taken into account in decision-making on development grants.
During her time as secretary general, the Commonwealth has helped its developing countries secure $363m (£280m) worth of climate action funding, with $500m (£385m) more in the pipeline.
“It was a huge privilege to be selected as the sixth secretary general and the second Caribbean person to hold the post,” she said, paying tribute to the late Sir Shridath Ramphal from Guyana, who was secretary general from 1975 to 1990. “I felt the weight of that honour, not least because if you look at the 33 small states in our Commonwealth – who are actually the majority – 25 of them are small island developing states.”
The danger is not just in the Caribbean. Commonwealth nations in every region are facing record-breaking and deadly hurricanes, cyclones, floods and droughts, and Pacific islanders are watching their land and property disappear under alarming sea-level rises.
Scotland said this new trend of more frequent and intense natural disasters had fuelled her advocacy and her resolve to find solutions.
“Right at the beginning of my tenure, I convened experts: oceanologists, climatologists, those working in the symbiotic economy, circular economy, so that we could encourage them to get out of their silos, and so we could better understand the issue of climate change and focus on solutions.
“This was 2016, and at that time we were looking at everything, including the ocean. And what we understood was that, historically, the ocean had acted as a coolant – but now, as sea levels were rising and the ocean [was] becoming polluted, its temperature was increasing, and it was instead becoming an accelerant for storms … So, hurricanes that would otherwise be a 1 or 2 on the scale will be whipped into life-threatening category 5 monster storms.”
The secretary general is hoping her innovations to tackle these challenges, such as the Commonwealth Blue Charter, which all 56 countries have signed up to, and that aims to protect ocean ecosystems and address issues such as pollution, will continue to benefit countries.
The Commonwealth, she said, is a powerful union that was instrumental in achieving global commitments such as the Paris climate agreement in 2015, and can be a platform for climate solutions.
Climate action and climate justice are expected to dominate the agenda in Samoa this weekend, with Britain facing growing calls before the summit to do more to support developing nations with financing to recover from natural disasters.
The issue of reparations for the damaging legacy of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel slavery has also come into the spotlight in the runup to the summit.
Asked whether this will be discussed at Chogm, Scotland said: “One of the benefits of the Commonwealth platform is that everybody is around that table – everybody who is affected, every region who participated in any way is around the table, because quite often in other spheres, someone is left out …
“Our leaders have the opportunity to discuss if they wish to, but it’s up to them. The secretariat does not dictate the agenda, and it does not take sides. We are here to serve.”
