Black Women’s Climate Leadership
- Alicia Richins
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
A profile of Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley by Alicia Richins.
Unequal Climate Impacts and Leadership by Women
The impacts of climate change affect us all differently and unequally. Global majority countries, who bear little responsibility for the cause, face the brunt of its effects. And these unequal impacts exacerbate existing structural inequalities. This leaves those already marginalized (women, youth, seniors, LGBTQ+, racialized, disabled, unhoused, etc.) more vulnerable, no matter where in the world they live.
In the case of women and girls, this larger brunt of climate impacts amplifies existing gender inequalities.
Yet women are not mere victims in this situation: when empowered to lead, women are overwhelmingly agents of change in climate action. Research shows that female leaders take more decisive action on climate change than their male counterparts. Across 130 countries, women in government positions were more likely to sign on to international treaties to reduce global warming than men.
In the words of Stephanie Holthaus, head of The Nature Conservancy’s Women in Climate Initiative, “Crucially, women take an intersectional approach, building inclusive, trust-based, and resilient networks that centre the knowledge and perspectives of diverse community-led and structurally excluded groups.”
And few leaders exemplify this as powerfully as Barbados’ own Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley.
Mia Amor Mottley: A Leader in Climate Finance for Climate Justice
As the first woman Prime Minister of Barbados, Mottley is part of a small but growing cohort of Black women shaping global climate policy.
Historically, climate negotiations have been dominated by leaders from wealthier, Northern, majority-white nations. Mottley’s presence at the table—particularly in forums like the Climate COP, the UN General Assembly, and the IMF & World Bank meetings—challenges that status quo. No silent token actor, Prime Minister Mottley is a vocal advocate and leader for climate justice and climate finance in our global governance and financial architecture.
The lead architect of the Bridgetown Initiative, PM Mottley proposed and subsequently launched this groundbreaking program that aims to reform the world of development finance, particularly how rich countries help poor countries cope with and adapt to climate change.
The initiative calls for three key actions:
To Change the terms around how funding is loaned and repaid, so that developing nations aren’t left spiraling into a debt crisis every time their borrowing is increased by disasters like floods, droughts and storms.
To increase lending for climate resilience to developing nations to $1 trillion, including discounted development bank lending to support the building of climate resilience in the most climate-vulnerable countries;
To establish a new mechanism–the Global Climate Mitigation Trust–using private-sector backing to fund climate mitigation efforts as well as reconstruction after disasters.
This Bridgetown Initiative isn’t just about financial reform—it’s about decolonizing climate finance.
The truth is, while developing nations are historically the borrowers of capital from “developed nations,” that capital was derived from the colonial and imperial exploitation of developing nations in the first place. And it is this exploitation and extraction that make up the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, and the crisis of climate change.
In other words, the Global North has caused the lion’s share of climate change, primarily through the history of colonial land theft, slavery and resource extraction, building up their coffers, and leaving the Global South in relative poverty and dependence. So the financial transfers from the North to the South today aren’t merely new credit for climate adaptation and resilience, but actually repayment of the North’s “climate debt” to the South.
By advocating for fairer debt relief and climate financing, Prime Minister Mottley is ensuring that Black and Brown-majority nations have the resources to build resilience instead of being trapped in cycles of economic dependency.
In her own words: “We were the ones whose blood, sweat and tears financed the Industrial Revolution. Are we now to pay the cost of climate change?”
Mottley’s focus on climate finance takes the often philosophical conversation around decolonization, reparation and climate justice, and makes it tangible, driving real results for communities today.
At the end of last year, Barbados secured the world’s very first debt-for-climate swap, replacing outstanding debt with less expensive financing. This generated $125 million in fiscal savings that will be redirected to food and water security initiatives–a model for other countries seeking climate solutions implementation without exacerbating public debt.
Conclusion
Mia Amor Mottley’s boldness has made her an inspiration to young Black women in climate activism and advocacy. Her leadership echoes the work of other Black women activists demanding a just climate transition that doesn’t leave the Global South behind. She represents what it means to be unapologetic in demanding equity, not charity.
PM Mottley isn’t just leading on climate—she’s reshaping the conversation around climate justice, finance, and leadership itself. As a Black woman at the helm of a climate-vulnerable nation, her advocacy is rooted in lived experience—and that makes her one of the most powerful voices for a truly just climate future.
Learn About Alicia!
Alicia (she/they) is a climate justice advocate, sustainable impact strategist, and writer passionate about imagining beyond the plausible. As founder of The Climateverse, they use storytelling and futures methods to inspire just, sustainable futures. With a decade of facilitation and five years of consulting experience, Alicia helps organizations and communities craft futures-focused impact strategies addressing climate, social, and economic justice. A proud Trinbagonian-Canadian, their work is shaped by deep engagement in the youth climate movement across Canada and the Caribbean, alongside graduate studies and ongoing learning in ecological economics, urban planning, sustainability, and strategic foresight.
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