336 THE GEORGETOWN ENVTL. LAW REVIEW [Vol. 35:331 Representing just 1% of the world population, these island nations have routinely “punched above their weight” in international climate negotiations.29 Indeed, SIDS have played an outsized role in the Framework Convention’s annual Conference of Parties (“COP”) meetings, pushing negotiators to fund adaptation measures through the creation of the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund.30 Recently, SIDS played a critical role in mobilizing support for the Paris Climate Agreement’s “Keep 1.5 Alive” effort, designed to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degree Celsius from pre-industrial norms.31 Island nations have argued that exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius will have devastating consequences for their homelands.32 Climate consequences reveal deep inequities: these island nations stand to lose everything while others stand to lose little in comparison. Although the Paris Climate Agreement’s goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still alive, “its pulse is weak.”33 That pulse is being kept on life support by island nations clamoring for transformational action. Today, island nations are a leading voice in urging other nations to increase their “mitigation ambition” and accelerate decarbonization efforts.34 In doing so, they have served as the world’s climate conscience, reminding wealthier nations of climate change’s immediate, existential threat.35 Despite the Framework Convention and Paris Climate Agreement’s near-universal acceptance and a growing acceptance that transformational action is required, international climate progress has been characterized by incrementalism, 29. The Alliance of Small Island Developing States (AOSIS) was established in 1990 and includes 38 U.N. Member States located throughout the world. As a group, SIDS comprise twenty percent of all U.N. members. Press Release, Security Council, Addressing Security Council, Pacific Island President Calls Climate Change Defining Issue of Next Century, Calls for Special Representative on Issue, U.N. Press Release SC/13417 (Dec. 17, 2018), https://perma.cc/7E76-2WGW [hereinafter 2018 Council Debate]. 30. See, e.g., U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Climate Change: Small Island Developing States (2005) (stating that Small Island Developing States have “been particularly active and vocal”). 31. Press Release, Alliance of Small Island Developing States, SIDS Survival Means Keeping 1.5 Alive (Feb. 28, 2022). 32. Brad Plumer, David Gelles, & Lisa Friedman, A Clash Over Degrees: How Hot Should Nations Allow the Earth to Get?, N.Y. TIMES at A12 (Nov. 16, 2022). 33. James Salzman, et. al, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW & POLICY 1 (6TH ED 2021) (quoting Alok Sharma, the UK president of COP26). Paris Agreement to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change art. 2(1)(a), Dec. 12, 2015, T.I.A.S. No. 16-1104. 34. See, e.g., Tina Gerhardt, At COP 26, Island Nations Demand Action on Funding and Emissions, THE NATION (Nov. 9, 2021); Mark Nevitt, Key Takeaways from the Glasgow Climate Pact, LAWFARE, (Nov. 17, 2021). 35. Famously, the Maldives held a Cabinet meeting underwater in scuba gear as a way to showcase the imminent climate harm that they are facing. See Maryam Omidi, Maldives Sends Climate SOS with Undersea Cabinet, REUTERS (Oct. 17, 2009). Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4223806