The Marshall Islands brought a $35 billion plan to the table at COP28 in Dubai — without it, the country risks a climate catastrophe

Photo: Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, the Marshall Islands’ climate envoy.Catherine Boudreau. Retrieved from africa.businessinsider.com

The country is responsible for less than 0.01% of greenhouse-gas emissions that are warming the planet, yet it’s among the most vulnerable to its effects. As glaciers and ice sheets melt at an alarming pace, sea levels are encroaching on the dozens of coral atolls and five islands that make up the nation in the Pacific Ocean.

Most of the Marshall Islands are only 6 feet — or a couple of meters — above sea level. By 2070, sea levels are projected to rise nearly 2 feet.

“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that would actually inundate most of the main urban centers every 10 years and damage a lot of our islands, making it unlivable,” Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, the Marshall Islands’ climate envoy, told Business Insider.