MORE than two dozen world leaders delivered remarks at the United Nations’ annual climate conference (Cop29) today, detailing first-hand experiences with catastrophic weather that has come with the climate emergency.

Leader after leader recounted climate disasters hitting their countries.

Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell describing a 15-month drought at the beginning of the year giving way to category 5 Hurricane Beryl.

He said: “At this very moment, as I stand here yet again, my island has been devastated by flash flooding, landslides and the deluge of excessive rainfall, all in the space of a matter of a couple hours. 

“It may be small island developing states today. It will be Spain tomorrow. It will be Florida the day after. It’s one planet.”

Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Edward Davis warned that “it will be our children and grandchildren who bear the burden, their dreams reduced to memories of what could have been.”

“We do not — cannot — accept that our survival is merely an option,” Mr Davis said.

He said: “If we leave climate action to the whims of political cycles, our planet’s future becomes precarious, very precarious.” he said.

Leaders on a panel with members of the High Ambition Coalition, a group of nations that want to see strong climate action, highlighted the “inverted morality” of big emitters who aren’t taking responsibility for their impacts on countries who have the most to lose.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said high-polluting nations are “deliberately burning the planet.”

Past promises of financial aid went unfulfilled for too long, so small island nations will have to seek justice and compensation in international courts, he said.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine called the climate crisis “the most pressing security threat” her country faces.

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev called out developed countries, in particular France and the Netherlands, for their colonial histories.

He described the harms of colonialism that continue today.

Biodiversity loss, rising seas and extreme weather hit communities that are often “ruthlessly suppressed,” he said.

European nations also warned of climate catastrophe on their continent.

“Over the past year, catastrophic floods in Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as in southern Croatia have shown the devastating impact of rising temperatures,” said Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. 

Ireland’s environment minister Eamon Ryan said that the 2015 Paris climate treaty “still lives” and that countries who drop out will realise they are falling behind as other countries move forward and see benefits to their economies.