Barbados may be a small country in size and population, but Prime Minister Mia Mottley has seen that the Caribbean nation plays a big role in the fight against the climate crisis.
In her speech at the 2025 TIME Earth Awards in Manhattan on April 23, Mottley pointed to the late Pope Francis, who “remained forthright in stating what was necessary for us at the personal level, but also the level of the planet Earth: we have to work to save the planet.”
“He said clearly that we need a conversation which includes everyone, not some of us, but everyone, since the environmental challenge that we are undergoing and its human roots concern and affect us all.”
Mottley, who became the first female Prime Minister of Barbados in 2018, isn’t afraid to pave the way. She has implemented a plan to phase out fossil fuels and transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
Mottley is clear about the contentious political climate that affects environmental action.
“We are at an awkward stage in the world’s development,” Mottley said. “When you hear companies and financial institutions that a year ago were still promoting the importance of climate finance all of a sudden say they don’t need it and they don’t believe in it anymore, you begin to wonder if this is real.”
But she’s also clear-eyed about what’s at stake, including the fact that the historically largest polluters are often the richest nations yet don’t bear the brunt of the climate crisis’ impacts. Rather, less developed countries in the Global South, like Barbados, which faces rising sea levels and more frequent storms, often do.
Mottley launched the Bridgetown Initiative at COP26 in 2021, as a plan to push rich countries to support developing nations in adapting to climate change by aiming to mobilize trillions of dollars in green investments.
“If we don’t get this equation correct, it is going to destabilize our access to food and water, our access to security,” she said.
Part of the key, she said, is in finding the “love language” that makes conversations between opposing sides—climate activists and climate deniers—possible. “We’re not going to win all the battles in the current geopolitical climate, but we can win a battle where there is common purpose.”
Mottley implored businesses and individuals to eschew apathy and indifference—and for world leaders to join in on the conversation around the climate crisis, regardless of political differences.
“The truth is that if we look back at history, we know that history doesn’t move in a straight line, but it is important that we keep the trajectory and the direction moving in the right way,” Mottley said. “There are people whose very existence depends on us finding ways of building bridges through this difficult and challenging time.”
TIME Earth Awards was presented by Official Timepiece Rolex and Galvanize Climate Solutions.