The Pacific island nation of Nauru is selling citizenship to fund its retreat from rising seas, the country’s president, David Adeang, announced on Tuesday, opening a contentious “golden passport” scheme as climate financing runs dry.
Existing climate funding efforts are “not sufficient” to address the challenge, said Edward Clark, who runs Nauru’s new Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program.
Nauru’s government expects to reap US$5.7m in the programme’s first year, equating to about 66 successful applications, Clark said.
“For Nauru it is not just about adapting to climate change, but about securing a sustainable and prosperous future for generations to come,” Adeang told AFP.
“It is well known that developing climate-vulnerable countries are disproportionately affected by climate change, and there is therefore an urgent need to ensure they disproportionately benefit from climate innovation,” he said.
