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November 18, 2025

Jamaica Leads Call of Island Nations for Urgent Action at COP30 Climate Summit
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Here in Brazil at the COP30 climate summit, Jamaica is leading calls
from vulnerable nations, like Mauritius and Cuba, to urge wealthier
countries to cut emissions to help limit the effects of global warming.
On Monday, Matthew Samuda, Jamaica's economic minister, cited the
devastating financial impact of Hurricane Melissa.

Matthew Samuda: "Preliminary estimates place damages around $10 billion
U.S., or approximately a third, or just under a third, of our GDP. No
small island state can absorb losses of this magnitude. Excellencies,
Jamaicans are resilient, but resilience must not be defined as surviving
the unbearable. We did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as
victims. We choose action."

Meanwhile, the Center for International Environmental Law identified
over 500 carbon capture and storage lobbyists attending COP30. The
center said in a statement,"The fossil fuel industry has found in AI's
energy demand a new narrative to justify its survival - and in carbon
capture, the perfect illusion. Carbon capture and storage cannot make
fossil fuels 'clean'; it just keeps them burning. It doesn't curb
emissions; it locks them in." We'll have more from the COP30 climate
summit here in Belém, Brazil, after headlines.


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