Grenada PM Dikon Mitchell recognized on TIME100 Climate list

TIME has named Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell to the 2024 TIME100 Climate list highlighting his leadership and commitment to addressing the global climate crisis. The TIME100 Climate list recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to climate action, and this honor places Mitchell among other influential figures dedicated to sustainable solutions.

Mitchell has been vocal about the importance of addressing climate change, especially given its disproportionate impact on small island nations like Grenada. His leadership in advocating for stronger climate policies and for international cooperation on environmental issues is crucial, as Caribbean nations are often on the frontlines of climate-related disasters such as hurricanes and rising sea levels.

“We have lived through the destructive power of hurricanes, which can erase decades of progress in just a few minutes, but we have also seen that when communities are prepared—we can save lives and livelihoods,” Mitchell told the U.N. “We are a living lab on the front lines of a global challenge.”

“Dickon Mitchell, the Prime Minister of Grenada since 2022, knows all too well the devastation a natural disaster can visit upon a small island nation like his.” The article states “He also understands why climate resiliency is so urgent for countries facing financial and structural ruin. This July, when Hurricane Beryl made landfall on the Grenadian islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique as a Category 4 tropical cyclone, the destruction was immense: roofs torn from homes, boats scattered across the land, public water supplies and health infrastructure decimated. Three people were killed.”

Because of the scale of that wreckage, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) made a record $44 ­million payment to Grenada to help it rebuild—and that allowed Mitchell to activate a first-of-its-kind debt clause postponing $30 ­million in repayments from the Grenadian government to private investors, including U.S. investment firms Franklin Templeton and T. Rowe Price. While the debt will still be paid back later, the near-term flexibility allowed Mitchell’s government to increase its liquidity and put the additional resources to disaster relief—a form of climate resiliency that had never before been tested.

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“With international partnership we developed innovative financial tools…which allow us to receive financial payouts and recover more swiftly from natural disasters,” Mitchell told the United Nations General Assembly in September as he advocated for more relief. “These efforts reflect more than just economic policy; they show that small nations like Grenada can develop sophisticated solutions to the challenges we face.”

The world has taken notice. Based on Grenada’s rebuilding efforts, countries like Spain are now advocating that wealthy nations across the globe offer these types of pause clauses to help developing countries recover. It’s a loan structure the World Bank has recently been working on as well.

“We have lived through the destructive power of hurricanes, which can erase decades of progress in just a few minutes, but we have also seen that when communities are prepared—we can save lives and livelihoods,” Mitchell told the U.N. “We are a living lab on the front lines of a global challenge.”