SYDNEY / TONGA, Friday 30 August 2024 — as the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tonga comes to a close, the following comments can be attributed to Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:

“The lack of meaningful progress at this year’s Pacific Islands Forum is a great disappointment to Pacific communities fighting to see meaningful commitments on key climate issues.

“Ahead of the Forum’s opening, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres invited leaders to take the boldest, most ambitious action to address the accelerating climate impacts we’re seeing play out across the Pacific noting, ‘the fate of the Pacific depends on limiting the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius’. 

“The reality is that inside the Forum, discussions did not reflect this clarion call. Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s Climate Change Minister, stated it most clearly of all, that Australia ‘opening, subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and unacceptable’.

“While financial commitments to the Pacific Resilience Fund from the US, UK and Nauru are welcome, it is far from what is needed to meet its goal of $500 million by 2026. There was a broad acknowledgement of the special circumstances of Pacific Small Island Developing States but no real discussions about the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance — so critical as countries shape up their pathway to fulfil their international obligations ahead of COP29 in November.

“Australia’s repeated failure to come to the party on climate action must not be ignored. In Dubai last year, Australia stood alongside its Pacific family and committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels but since then, it has continued to greenlight new projects. 

“Just this week, Australia recorded its hottest ever winter temperature of 41.5 degrees at Yampi Sound in the Kimberley. Offshore from the Kimberley coast, fossil fuel giant Woodside wants to drill for gas as part of its Burrup Hub mega project — gas we do not need during a climate crisis.

“The COP31 co-bid with the Pacific presents an opportunity for Australia to show true climate leadership and genuinely respond to Pacific needs. That means ambitious commitments on fossil fuels and climate finance. Decades of inaction have threatened the very future of many Pacific communities — Australia must take responsibility for the climate harm it has helped create.”

—ENDS—

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or [email protected]