I never set out to work on climate change — climate change found me. As a young journalist and then as a politician in the Maldives, my early focus was on ending a decades-long dictatorship. After a long and difficult struggle, our country held its first free elections in 2008, and I was fortunate to be elected as the Maldives’ first democratic president.

But once in office, I quickly realized that many of our most urgent challenges — from eroding coastlines to water shortages — were being driven by climate change. The Maldives, like Ghana and many other nations in the Global South, is extremely vulnerable. We are only 1.5 meters above sea level. We have no hills. When the seas rise, we flood. When the storms grow stronger, we are battered.

It became clear to me that climate change was not just an environmental issue — it was an existential one. In 2009, to dramatise this point, my cabinet held an underwater meeting in scuba gear to show the world what our future could look like if the seas kept rising. The images were striking, but our message was simple: unless the world acts, we will drown.

Today, as Secretary-General of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) — a coalition of 74 countries most at risk from global warming, which is headquartered in Accra — I see how much more urgently we must act. The world keeps getting hotter and hotter every year.

But I remain optimistic that we will get a grip on, and ultimately solve, the climate crisis. Why? Because unlike in 2009, we now have the technology. And more political leaders, from all corners of the Earth, are recognising the economic opportunities in building clean, resilient economies.

That’s why the CVF is promoting a bold strategy: Climate Prosperity Plans. These are investment roadmaps to help our countries transition to clean energy, modernise our economies, and adapt to a changing climate — all while creating jobs and reducing poverty.

Ghana has completed a Climate Prosperity Plan — an exciting roadmap for attracting funds into a range of projects and programmes that could have a transformational impact on the country. These projects include: reducing power outages and enhancing access to electricity by maximising Ghana’s renewable energy potential; improving access to pre-arranged financing, better known as insurance, in times of climate shocks such as dryspells affecting farmers through the Africa Risk Capacity, improving health and access to water; rolling out electric public transport; and creating ‘sponge cities’, with more green spaces that make cities nicer to live in, and also reduce flooding.

But all of these exciting projects, in Ghana and in other CVF countries that have created Climate Prosperity Plans, require money. And right now, affordable finance is out of reach for many CVF countries.

It costs far more to build a solar plant in, for example, my country, the Maldives than in Spain, even though the sun falls on the Maldives just as much as it does on Spain. Why the cost difference? Because investors view us developing countries as high-risk, and charge punitive interest rates.

The truth is: we didn’t cause the climate crisis. Rich countries polluted the skies, yet we pay the price — through floods, droughts, and high borrowing costs. This must change.

The CVF has identified practical financial reforms — what we call “super-levers” — that can unlock up to $210 billion per year in affordable finance. These include new global funds, better risk-sharing mechanisms, and reforms to the way multilateral banks lend. With these tools, our countries can invest in resilience and clean growth — they can finance those exciting projects in the Climate Prosperity Plans.

Back in 2009, the world lacked the technology, the political will, and the finance to fight climate change. Today, technology is here. The politics is catching up. Finance is the final barrier — but it is surmountable. If we unlock it, we can build a future where climate action drives prosperity. Not just for the Maldives or Ghana, but for all climate vulnerable nations.