Addressing the plenary session of the “Africa Forward Summit 2026” with Chief Executive Officers on energy transition and green industrialisation, Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles, Mr Sebastien Pillay, issued a powerful call for the international community to move beyond rhetoric and deliver "affordable and predictive" climate financing to ensure the survival of Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Speaking in Nairobi during the Summit co-hosted by Kenya and France, Vice-President Pillay emphasised that for island nations, the energy transition is a prerequisite for survival rather than a mere policy choice. He warned that without rapid emission reductions and a massive scale-up in renewables, the 1.5 degrees Celsius global temperature target, critical for the protection of vulnerable coastlines, will remain out of reach.
Strategic Priorities for Transition
The Vice-President outlined a three-pillar strategy to overcome the structural constraints facing island energy markets:
Infrastructure & Planning: Investment in modern, decentralised grids and storage solutions to ensure stability.
Capital Mobilisation: Creation of clear regulatory frameworks and risk-mitigation instruments to attract private investment, noting that public resources alone are insufficient.
Regional Cooperation: Utilising platforms like the African Island States Climate Commission to drive island-specific perspectives into continental innovation and technology transfer.
A Call for Financial Evolution
A central theme of the Vice-President’s intervention was the need for the global financial architecture to evolve. He strongly advocated for the integration of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), ensuring that vulnerable states are no longer sidelined by traditional economic metrics.
Access to climate finance remains our central constraint, Vice-President Pillay stated. "Financing must not only be more accessible and responsive, but affordable and predictive to meet our international obligations."
The Vice-President further noted that these obligations are now bolstered by the “International Court of Justice advisory opinion”, which clarifies the legal duties of states to protect the climate system.