Cayman must cut emissions, says Panton

| 04/11/2021 | 142 Comments
Cayman News Service
Prince Charles and Premier Wayne Panton at COP26

(CNS): The Cayman Islands has one of the largest carbon footprints per capita in the world, which Premier Wayne Panton has said must be reduced. In a video call from the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the PACT Government leader pointed out that if countries like Cayman are going to press other governments to reduce their massive carbon footprints that will inevitably impact us, we have to do our part first. He said local emissions need to be cut by almost two thirds as soon as possible.

“Our per capita contribution to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is about 12.4 tonnes and that is higher than many other big countries,” he said on the call with Donna Bush from CIGTV. “On a per capita basis, we need to reduce that down to… around 4.8 tonnes as quickly as possible.” He said we need the credibility of showing that we have done our share to be able to press the big polluters.

“We are the ones that are going to feel it first and we are the ones that are going to feel it most,” he said, stressing the importance of Cayman and other small nations being at the conference to have their voices heard. He warned that Cayman was in danger of losing our beautiful marine environment as the planet warms, which was unthinkable and the world had to find ways of making dramatic change.

Panton pointed out that while COVID-19 was a temporary crisis that needed to be tackled, dealing with the climate was an existential crisis and we could lose the opportunity to address the forthcoming disaster if we do not act now.

With the likelihood of COP26 concluding without any kind of real change, Panton said that in some ways there was a sense of hopelessness. However, the young people who are campaigning for change were inspiring, as were the representatives of indigenous people from Brazil who are pressing home the critical need to protect the natural world.

He also spoke about the Terra Carta Action Forum hosted by the Prince of Wales on Wednesday. This is a project targeted at the private sector and awards businesses for sustainable and green initiatives. Panton said that seeing hundreds of CEOs from major companies committing to reducing their carbon outputs to zero and pushing sustainability across their business gave him hope.

See the full video call below:


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Category: Climate Change, Science & Nature

Comments (142)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Meanwhile, today Sunday November 14th, Boris to hold 5pm press conference amid fury at China and India for torpedoing COP26: Alok Sharma warns Xi and Modi that they will have to ‘justify’ scheming that forced nations to accept ‘watered down’ deal over coal use

  2. Anonymous says:

    Summary, foreigners convince Wayne to destabilize our economy using the environment as a false flag. Watch the “One Minute Economics” about the Cayman Islands on YouTube.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cAtvkjWRQU

    • Anonymous says:

      Put 150 % duties on Diesel vehicles they are big, Big polluters and also on those big pleasure boats and big yearly license fees.

  3. Anonymous says:

    How about slowing down the large-scale development and planting more trees?

  4. Anonymous says:

    some free money making solutions:
    treble car tax for cars with engines over 2l
    introduce car-pool lanes….will also cut traffic
    introduce congestion charge for people in single occupancy cars entering gt
    treble import duty on meat
    eliminate duty on solar products and electric vehicles
    treble planning fees for homes over 3000sf

    • Hungry man says:

      Tell us why you don’t like meat.

      • Anonymous says:

        think about it….
        is it good for you?…nope…meat eater die younger
        is it good for the environment? no …its an ecological disaster.
        it it good for animals? nope…go watch how some footage on industial meat production.

        any other common sense questions?

    • Anonymous says:

      Stop importing big V8 engines vehicles for Government officials with free taxpayers gas to drive up and down burning extra gas extra polluting. Put 100 % duties on all those
      big V8 engines and second hand vehicle’s. 75 % duties on all 6 cylinders, 50 % duties on all 4 cylinders below 2500 CC and 15 per duties on Electric/Gas vehicles and 5 % duties on full electric vehicles. In cayman its too eady to own a car, too many cars on the road. And need to do something about all those pleasure boats running up and down burning fuel too, put hefty license fees on them. Do something not just talk, talk and just talk only.

  5. Anonymous says:

    How many will give up their big boats?

  6. Anonymous says:

    Global ocean fisheries will reach 90% depletion by 2048. At what point do we cut out all these corporate-sponsored deep sea fishing tournaments? Totally uncool.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Change the electricity generation laws to stop protecting CUC and allow anybody to generate electricity by placing solar panels on their land and sell the power back to the grid. The solution is so simple but we have these antiquated protectionist laws that were basically written by CUC’s lawyers designed to protect them and give them a monopoly. Stop making it so hard to sell solar energy if you’re serious about reducing your carbon footprint

  8. Anonymous says:

    The planet needs to go well beyond net-zero to make up for all the decades we’ve done nothing.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Sentient diners will increasingly demand more plant-based dining – maybe with a Caribbean twist. It’s okay not to have meat on the plate. Our restaurants need to get with the times.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Coming across the North Sound the other day from Rum Point I gazed at the brown haze sitting permanently above and around CUC. Such a beautiful vista….

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