Pacific islands press for COP31 funding on renewables and ocean protection
Pacific Islands Forum leaders used their Palau summit to demand COP31 deliver climate finance and ocean protection, as the UN warns rising seas are now a 'development emergency.'
Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum, meeting in Palau, used their annual summit to press for November's COP31 climate conference to deliver more finance for renewable energy and coastal resilience across the region. The 18-member forum, which includes COP31 co-president Australia, closed its Belau Declaration by reaffirming that climate change is the "single greatest threat" to Pacific livelihoods and calling for faster progress away from fossil fuels.
The forum built on a $14-billion "100% Renewable Blue Pacific" investment plan launched a year earlier, which aims to cut the region's heavy reliance on imported diesel — some countries reportedly spend up to a quarter of their GDP importing fuel for electricity. Australia's climate minister, who is also COP31's president of negotiations, said his government wants COP31 to make climate finance easier for countries to access.
The summit came the same week the UN released a report warning that sea-level rise is now an accelerating "development emergency," with 2024 setting a record for the fastest annual rise on record and roughly 1.2 billion people worldwide exposed to coastal flooding.
Based on reporting by Sebastian Rodriguez for Climate Home News. Read the original: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2026/09/07/pacific-islands-forum-cop31-clean-energy-finance-ocean-renewables/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
