Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has urged people to sign a climate petition after calling for a global movement of “1.5 billion voices for 1.5 degrees” at COP31.
In a post on X on Thursday, Mottley directed readers to the 1.5 Billion Voices for 1.5 Degrees petition and called for climate funding that reaches communities and helps protect them before disaster strikes. She told the Antalya Leaders’ Summit on Wednesday that she wanted the movement to build pressure ahead of next year’s COP32.
Mottley looked back to the appeal she made five years ago at COP26 in Glasgow, when she told leaders that limiting warming to 1.5°C was essential for vulnerable countries. In Antalya, she said that even if countries delivered on their existing climate pledges, the world was headed for 2.6°C of warming. She warned that every fraction of a degree would affect coral reefs, harvests and the communities that depend on them.
“Pledges are not payments,” Mottley said. She called for more money for the Green Climate Fund, delivery on promises to triple funding for climate adaptation and grants for the fund that helps countries deal with climate loss and damage.
For Caribbean countries facing the cost of rebuilding after hurricanes, her proposal on debt was direct. She called for disaster clauses in loan agreements so countries could pause repayments when a disaster hits. She also urged development banks to take on some of the risk of clean energy investments in vulnerable countries, where she said borrowing costs were substantially higher.
Mottley asked people to press their own parliaments on climate policy and to ask pension funds where their money is invested. Her appeal to the public comes as COP31 negotiations continue in Antalya through 20 November.
Mottley cited Jamaica among the places affected by climate disasters. Hurricane Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica on 28 October 2025 as a Category 5 storm. Flooding, landslides and damage to homes, schools and hospitals followed, illustrating the scale of the recovery costs behind her call for grants and repayment pauses after disasters.
Mottley also pointed to California and Europe. Both have faced repeated wildfire seasons, with fires again burning across parts of both regions in summer 2026. CAL FIRE had recorded more than 322,000 acres burnt in California by mid-September. Across the EU, Copernicus recorded more than 686,000 hectares burnt by the end of September, nearly twice the 2006–2025 average for that point in the year, following a record 2025 season.
Sources used for this report8 verified links
- Mia Amor Mottley’s petition appeal, 12 November
- Barbados Government Information Service, full statement, 11 November
- UN Climate Change, COP31 programme
- United Nations in Jamaica, assessment of Hurricane Melissa’s impacts
- UNICEF Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa situation report
- 1.5 Billion Voices for 1.5 Degrees petition
- CAL FIRE, California wildfire statistics
- Copernicus review of Europe’s summer 2026 wildfires
