PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Small islands and coastal developing nations make a powerful plea to global leaders and climate financing agencies…we are tiny and extremely vulnerable. But we matter, because we are here.
11th June 2025, Nice, France: In a compelling address at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), the Honourable John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize and President of the eighth session of the Small Island Developing States Dock (SIDS DOCK) Assembly, delivered a powerful plea to global leaders and climate financing agencies, urging immediate action to fund renewable ocean energy projects in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Coastal Developing Nations, during his opening remarks at a UNOC3 Side Event on 9th June 2025, organized by SIDS DOCK, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Centers (GN-SEC) and other partners.
Speaking before a packed room of almost 150 delegates, comprising an international audience of leaders from small islands and coastal developing nations and representatives from Austria, Norway, France and other European countries, policymakers, scientists, and environmental advocates, the Prime Minister in his leadership role as President of SIDS DOCK, spoke on behalf of the 73 million people across the SIDS, and underscored the pressing need for investment in ocean energy solutions. “Despite its unmatched potential, renewable ocean energy remains underfunded, underdeveloped, and underestimated. Climate finance agencies, the very institutions created to spearhead the drive to sustainable energy innovation, are not prioritizing support to ocean energy projects. We ask, why? The technology exists, the expertise is available, and the benefits are unquestionable. What remains is the commitment and financial backing to deploy more ocean energy solutions,” he noted. “But we are not here merely to recite challenges and point out grievances driven by climate change. We are here to demand action on solutions for our mutual survival,” he said in closing his remarks.
Prime Minister Briceño was supported in this call to action by several high-level speakers, including His Excellency Mr. Sepp Schellhorn, State Secretary at the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, who delivered opening remarks solidified the strong and durable partnership between Austria and SIDS DOCK, established in 2014. In May 2024, on the margins of the Fourth International Conference on SIDS (SIDS4) in Antigua and Barbuda, SIDS DOCK, UNIDO and Austria signed a Joint Declaration continuing to see UNIDO and Austria actively supporting countries and territories in their economic diversification aspirations towards higher added value manufacturing and servicing in traditional sectors and emerging ones of the green, blue and digital economy.
Mr. Ciyong Zou, Deputy to the Director General and the Managing Director of the Directorate of Technical Cooperation and Sustainable Industrial Development, UNIDO, firmly voiced UNIDO’s support for SIDS DOCK and said UNIDO was committed to continuing support for the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA), established by SIDS DOCK, UNIDO and the GN-SEC and other partners. The GLOEA was launched in June 2022, on the margins of the second UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Since then, UNIDO has supported the establishment of the GLOEA Secretariat within the Belize based SIDS DOCK Secretariat, in April 2024, with support of the Government of Belize.
SIDS DOCK and UNIDO launched the GLOEA to accelerate the transfer of renewable ocean energy technologies to SIDS and Coastal Developing Nations. It offers a platform to connect SIDS with the emerging ocean energy industry in the Global North that seeks to test new solutions across diverse climates and facilitates access to blue-green financing and venture capital. It provides a marketspace and shared services, resources and intelligence to ocean energy market enablers, particularly governments, utilities and ocean energy entrepreneurs and industrials.
Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director, responsible for Development Policy and Partnerships at the World Bank, also delivered opening remarks. He said that there is approximately $1 billion yet to be disbursed for climate change projects due to national capacity issues, however, the Bank is actively promoting scaling up of projects to increase implementation. Mr. van Trotsenburg’s intervention during a High-Level Panel discussion on “Recommendations on Climate Financing and Financing the GLOEA Indicative Project Pipeline,” was a major highlight of the side event, that brought new understanding of the work of the World Bank and hope to small islands and coastal developing nations that the Bank stands ready to support the SIDS and Coastal Developing Countries in their renewable ocean energy aspirations and projects. The panel discussion was moderated by H.E. Mr. Carlos Fuller, OBE, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Belize to the UN and SIDS DOCK Executive Council Member from Belize and Vice Chair of the Executive Council.
The side event also featured several technical presentations on the GLOEA project pipeline and public-private partnerships. UNIDO in partnership with the Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (PCREEE) gave an outlook on the Pacific Renewable Ocean Energy Readiness Program, which will be presented jointly at the meeting of Pacific Ministers of Energy and Transport in Papua New Guinea in 2026. Presentations were delivered by Mr. Rémi Gruet, Chief Executive Officer, Ocean Energy Europe, on “Financing Wave Energy Parks: De-risking Ocean Energy Technologies,” that was complemented by a video presentation from Dr. Laurent Albert, Chief Executive Officer, Seabased Limited, Ireland who provided an overview of the status of pilot wave energy parks being developed in 7 SIDS. Additionally, Mr. Steven Lutz, Senior Programme Officer, Blue Carbon Lead, GRID-Arendal, Norway, delivered a presentation on “Blue Carbon as a Nature-Based Blue Economy Solution to the Impacts of Climate Change.”
However, it was tiny Tuvalu that brought noticeable tears to the eyes of several delegates in attendance, who reacted to a passionate plea from Dr. Maina Talia, Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change, and Environment, who spoke about the plight of the 9,564 Tuvaluans who are battling the devastating effects of climate change. Tuvalu is the most vulnerable country in the world to sea level rise, coastal erosion and flooding, ocean acidification and intensifying cyclones. Dr. Talia said that if action is not taken now, Tuvalu will be devoured by the very ocean the population relies on. “The whole world is literally watching Tuvalu’s capital, Funafuti, go under water, as our coastlines disappear faster than before. This is a painful sight for our children to watch growing up. We as leaders must fight for them, for their livelihoods, for their future. Many of you in this room probably think about a future for your young quite frequently. For an increasing number of us in SIDS, we honestly don’t know. But we do know that there are things than can be done to prevent our demise. We are tiny and extremely vulnerable. But we matter, because we are here,” he said. Minister Talia represented the Hon. Feleti Penitala Teo, Prime Minister of Tuvalu, during the high-level panel discussion.
Also attending the SIDS DOCK-UNIDO UNOC3 Side Event were the Hon. Andre Perez, Minister of the Blue Economy and Marine Conservation, Belize, Hon. Flavien P. Joubert, Minister of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Republic of Seychelles; and H.E. Mr. Viliami Vaʻinga Tōnē, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Tonga to the United Nations and Chair of the SIDS DOCK Executive Council, among other distinguished guests and delegates.
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Contact:
Christine Neves Duncan, Chief of Staff & Project Director, SIDS DOCK Secretariat: cduncan@sidsdock.org; secretariat@sidsdock.org.
Martin Lugmayr, Industrial Development Expert, UNIDO: m.lugmayr@unido.org
SIDS DOCK is a United Nations (UN)-recognised international organisation established in 2015, with all the rights and privileges for addressing climate change, resilience, and energy security in small islands. SIDS DOCK represents 32 small islands and low-lying developing states across the globe, and is so named because it is designed as a “DOCKing station,” to connect the energy sector in SIDS with the global markets for finance and sustainable energy technologies. The organisation’s work is coordinated by the Secretariat, in Belmopan, Belize.
