Muizzu Tells COP31 International Support Essential for Maldives' Renewable Energy Goals

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has said that international assistance is essential for the Maldives to reach the targets it has set in the area of renewable energy. The President made the remarks while delivering an address at the COP31 Summit. Speaking at the summit, referring to the changes occurring in global temperatures, President Muizzu said that as the world faces a climate crisis with global temperatures rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius, the Maldives has set the ambition to build a resilient future aware of this. The President also said that financial assistance is needed from that sector for the Maldives. The President said that developed countries must fulfil their responsibility to provide climate-related financial assistance, and that efforts toward resilience must be viewed not as a financial burden but as an investment in the future. The President also said that financial assistance must be provided in accordance with what developed countries have agreed to provide to recover from the impacts of climate change. The President also noted that this financial assistance must be sustainable and not be free aid that must be repaid. "We are calling for justice, for accountability, and for measures to be taken," President Dr. Muizzu said. In the President's speech, he also noted that the financial funds established to provide assistance to the countries most affected by the damage caused by environmental impacts also need to be expanded. He also said that in the climate change occurring today, the share of small countries is small, and that because of this, the financial burden of recovering from the damages that arise cannot be left upon those countries, and that efforts for the country's security will not result in large debts being increased to the country that it cannot repay. In addition, the President's speech also noted that the COP31 Summit must demonstrate that results can be produced through internationally coordinated efforts.