Without a seat at the table, but not without a voice: Puerto Rico at COP29

Carlos Berríos Polanco was reporting in Baku thanks to Climate Tracker’s COP29 Caribbean Climate Justice Fellowship.

Diplomats, economists, journalists, and environmental activists from across the globe converged on Baku’s Olympic Stadium in Azerbaijan for the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29). This landmark event under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) serves as the world’s most significant climate conference. Despite bearing the brunt of intensified hurricanes, rising sea levels, and coastal erosion, Puerto Rico has no formal representation at COP29.

As a colonial territory of the United States, Puerto Rico depends on the U.S. delegation to advocate on its behalf—a position that, according to experts, leaves the archipelago vulnerable in addressing the worsening impacts of climate change. 

Most Puerto Ricans at COP29 belong to non-governmental organizations or civil society groups, an attendance which only grants them “observer” status. This designation allows them to provide advice or speak during negotiations, but denies them the power to participate directly. A few Puerto Ricans, however, joined the conference as part of the U.S. delegation or as advisors to other nations.  

Jesús Vázquez Negrón, an organizer working with Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecologica (Boricuá Organization for Ecological Agriculture), explained the urgency of including Puerto Rican representation.

“El rol principal de los puertorriqueños aquí es que puedan hablar desde sí mismos. [Para] nosotros, por nuestro contexto de colonización, Estados Unidos es quien podría hablar por nosotros, pero ni eso hacen”, dijo. Vázquez Negrón ha estado asistiendo a la COP por casi una década, colaborando con La Vía Campesina, un movimiento internacional para el avance de la soberanía alimentaria. En sus años de asistencia a la conferencia, ha observado como la falta de poder de negociación se extiende a otras colonias estadounidenses, como Guam y las Islas Vírgenes de Estados Unidos.

La importancia de que los puertorriqueños estén presentes en la conferencia recae en identificarse con los Pequeños Estados Insulares en Desarrollo (SIDS, en inglés) y tomar las posturas necesarias para beneficiarse a escala global, lo que ayudaría a Puerto Rico, aunque el archipiélago solo sea miembro asociado de la Comisión Regional para América Latina y el Caribe y no pueda participar en las negociaciones, explicó Isatis Cintrón Rodríguez, directora ejecutiva de Climate Trace PR, organización ambientalista fundada en 2015.

“Estados Unidos es uno de los peores jugadores dentro de los salones de negociaciones, definitivamente no tienen ningún tipo de prioridad sobre lo que es Puerto Rico”, señaló. Cintrón Rodríguez también lidera ACE Observatory, una organización que trabaja para avanzar en la gobernanza climática y la acción climática centrada en las personas. “ACE” o “acción para empoderamiento climático” se refiere al trabajo realizado en virtud del artículo 6 de la CMNUCC y el artículo 12 del Acuerdo de París, que se centra en la educación, la capacitación, la conciencia pública, la participación pública, el acceso a la información y la cooperación internacional.“The main role of Puerto Ricans here is to be able to speak for ourselves. Because of our colonial context, the U.S. is who could speak for us and they do not even do that,” he said. Vázquez Negrón has been attending COP for nearly a decade, collaborating with La Via Campesina, an international movement to advance food sovereignty. Throughout his years of attending the conference, he has observed how the lack of negotiating power extends to other U.S. colonies such as Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The importance of Puerto Ricans being present at the conference lies in identifying oneself with Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and taking the positions necessary to benefit from them on a global scale, which would help Puerto Rico even if the archipelago is only an associate member of the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Commission and cannot participate in negotiations, explained Isatis Cintrón Rodríguez, executive director of Climate Trace PR, an environmental organization founded in 2015.

“The U.S. is one of the worst players at the negotiating table. They definitely do not prioritize Puerto Rico,” she noted. Cintrón Rodríguez also leads ACE Observatory, an organization that works to advance climate governance and people-centered climate action. “ACE” or “action for climate empowerment” refers to work done under Article 6 of the UNFCCC and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement, which focuses on education, training, public awareness, public participation, access to information and international cooperation.

9 Millones requested an interview with a Puerto Rican member of the U.S. delegation. They did not respond to the request by time of publishing.

SIDS are a unique group of developing nations that share similar circumstances, recognized by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. These islands' reliance on imports, limited access to finance, debt pressure and dependence on ocean resources leave them “on the frontlines of climate change,” according to the United Nations Development Programme. 

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) negotiates on behalf of SIDS during the UNFCCC COP process. Puerto Rico is one of five observer members, alongside Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Netherlands Antilles.

In an August 2002 statement at the World Summit of Sustainable Development, then Interim Secretary of State of Puerto Rico Miguel Soto Lacourt labeled Puerto Rico as a “developing island nation” and lamented how the archipelago had been “excluded” from actions discussed by regional and world commissions. “It is imperative we fully and consistently re-enter the global scene,” he said at the time.

Colonial legacy in the face of climate change vulnerability 

Latin America and the Caribbean contribute less than 10% of the world’s emissions, yet they are some of the regions that are most affected by climate change. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the world’s second largest emitter, accounting for 11.3% of total global emissions, according to the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research. Puerto Rico only accounts for 0.03%. 

Puerto Rico was removed from the United Nations’ list of non-sovereign territories in 1953, after declaring itself an “Associated Free State”, a status that is neither a sovereign nation nor a U.S. state. The U.S. maintains significant control over the archipelago’s governance, including the imposure of a fiscal control board that has implemented austerity measures following the archipelago's 2016 declaration of bankruptcy. This colonial status has left Puerto Rico unable to access UNFCCC climate financing mechanisms that neighboring countries are owed by developed nations.

While Puerto Rico has symbolically voted in favor of statehood multiple times — including during the most recent election — only Congress can add a new state to the Union. After the 2024 election, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that statehood for Puerto Rico is not going to happen. Similarly, the UN Special Committee on Decolonization has approved multiple resolutions reaffirming Puerto Rico’s “inalienable right” to self-determination and independence with no change in the archipelago’s status.

These power imbalances leave Puerto Ricans between a rock and a hard place, wherein they have negligible emissions and are heavily affected by climate change, yet they have no voice in global climate negotiations.

“We can influence these negotiations—make ourselves felt—but a lot of the time, these governments are not in tune with the reality of our people,” Vázquez Negrón said after participating in one of the many protests inside the Olympic Stadium that had to be pre-coordinated with UN security.

No Climate Financing for Puerto Rico at “Finance COP”

COP29 was billed as the “Finance COP” because countries were negotiating how much climate financing developed countries should give to developing nations. Many developing countries were demanding $1.3 trillion annually mostly composed of grants for the financing target, also known as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).

However, on Saturday after the last scheduled day of COP29, countries adopted an NCQG of $300 billion annually by 2035 with “developed countries taking the lead” to provide funds, which can come from a variety of sources, including public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources. The text also includes a broader target of at least $1.3 billion by 2035 which can come from public or private sources. 

The original goal, $100 billion by 2020, was only achieved in 2022 and expires in 2025.

A representative of the Indian delegation called the document “an optical illusion” and the Marshall Islands' climate envoy recognized it “isn’t nearly enough, but it’s a start,” according to Reuters.

However, Puerto Rico has no access to these funds because of its colonial status.

“Since [Puerto Rico] is part of the US, no developed country is going to give money to the US, but if it’s just Puerto Rico, then they would,” Ramon Cruz Díaz, former vice president of Puerto Rico’s Environmental Quality Board, explained.

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In September 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused over 4,000 casualties and over $90 billion in damages in Puerto Rico, nearly as much as that year’s GDP ($103.5 billion). The aftermath of that climate disaster and others, such as the 2019 earthquakes and Hurricane Fiona in 2022, are still being felt to this day across the archipelago. 

As of October 2024, the federal government has allocated over $39 billion for funding recovery efforts tied to climate disasters that have occurred since 2017, according to data provided by the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency. Of those funds, $35.7 billion have been obligated and $10.7 billion have been disbursed.

During his first term, the Trump administration delayed over $20 billion in hurricane relief aid after Hurricane Maria, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Meanwhile, Puerto Rican experts agree that Donald Trump’s reelection could mean a reduction in federal funding for the archipelago.

If the world reaches 2°C of warming and no action is taken to mitigate the effects of climate change, it could cause a loss of nearly $379,270 million in Puerto Rico’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a study published by the Department of Natural Resources and the Committee of Experts and Advisors on Climate Change.

Current climate policies across the globe put the world on track to reach about 2.7°C of warming.  

It is unclear if Puerto Rico would have access to UNFCCC climate financing if it became an independent nation because it is unknown where its economy would fall on the UN’s economic ranking. A 2017 research note estimated the archipelago’s Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index to be similar to Croatia and Kazakhstan—straddling the line between developed and developing. However, Puerto Rico’s GDP is one of the highest in the Caribbean, only surpassed by other colonies of Global North countries, according to data from the World Bank.

Both Cintrón Rodríguez, who advised Global South countries in the lead up to COP29, and Cruz Díaz, a visiting professor at Princeton, believe Puerto Rico would likely qualify as a high-middle income developing nation if it became independent, granting it access to UNFCCC climate funds such as the Loss and Damage Fund or the Green Climate Fund. Independence would also allow Puerto Rico to set its own Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), a key requirement under the Paris Agreement that serves as a nation’s roadmap to lower emissions and adapt to climate change. 

However, Cruz Díaz emphasized that climate financing would not be a “panacea” for Puerto Rico’s financial and environmental ills, given that it lacks the diplomatic body to take advantage of these funds. 

Adrian Cerezo, senior research fellow at the University of Maine and a CHILD project fellow at the Yale Child Study Center—who came to COP29 as an advisor to the Republic of Marshall Islands—points out that, even though Puerto Rico is not a Party to the negotiations, its will always be a party to the ever-increasing effects of climate change if actions to mitigate and adapt are ignored.

The archipelago is far from reaching its renewable energy goals of 40% by 2025 and 100% by 2050 (the archipelago only has about 6% of its electricity coming from renewable sources).New Fortress Energy, which sells methane gas to Puerto Rico and controls about 60% of energy generation through a subsidiary, has said that they are “very optimistic” about gas conversions under Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón’s incoming administration.

Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev — who has overseen a crackdown on civil society organizations, according to Human Rights Watch — criticized France and Netherlands by listing over a dozen islands, like Aruba and New Caledonia, that are “still suffering today in the 21st century from colonial rule” and “are often brutally suppressed by the regimes in their metropolises.” 

Meanwhile, concerns about climate policy under President-elect Trump’s second term have been widely echoed by climate experts and activists. Cerezo fears Trump’s administration could be “apocalyptic” for national climate change policies and further hinder U.S. contributions to global climate efforts. Environmentalists described the President-elect's potential approach as taking a "wrecking ball" to global climate action.  

Environmental and civil society activists are in for a “complex era,” noted Cintrón Rodríguez. However, she emphasized that locally-led climate approaches and solutions could serve as a wall to Trump’s proposed climate policy and its impact on Puerto Rico’s potential efforts to mitigate climate change. 

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