By Yemi Olakitan
Leaders from the Pacific region have issued a bold plan for a “Fossil Fuel Free Pacific” and a call for a reasonable and equitable phase-out of coal, oil, and gas production during a three-day ministerial dialogue in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
The Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General, Henry Puna, as well as ministers and officials from Tonga, Fiji, Niue, and the Solomon Islands attended the “2nd Pacific Ministerial Conversation on Pathways for the Global Fair Transition away from Fossil Fuels,” which Vanuatu and Tuvalu sponsored.
The “Port Vila Call for a Fair Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific,” the official consequence of the summit, demands for a fair, quick, and financially supported worldwide phase-out of fossil fuels.
The six Pacific Island nations present at the summit made the following pledges in particular:
Accept as quickly as feasible the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Declaration for a just transition to a “Fossil Fuel Free Pacific.”
In September at the UN Secretary General’s climate summit and throughout COP28, lead the worldwide phase-out of coal, oil, and gas production in accordance with the goal of keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Join the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, encourage the world’s largest oil and gas producers to sign up for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, and take the lead in organising a global coalition to negotiate a new treaty that will regulate the end of fossil fuel expansion, a fair phase-out of fossil fuels, and a just transition for all.
Intensify efforts to affirm, enhance, and codify the rules governing the global phase-out of fossil fuels, especially by urging all countries to back the Pacific’s resolution to the UN General Assembly asking the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on climate change.
Avoid using words like “unabated” or “inefficient” that allow polluters and producers of fossil fuels to get away with their crimes.
Alatoi Maukoro
The prime minister of the Republic of Vanuatu, Ishmael Kalsakau, stated: “As loss and destruction increase around the Pacific and the world, the fossil fuel business is experiencing historic profits.
We cannot rely on the fossil fuel sector to end the status quo.
To achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, we require both national and international collaboration to specifically cease the growth of fossil fuel emissions and production.
Moving away from an extractive economy gives us the chance to create a visionary, regenerative, and productive economy in its place.
It is past time for countries to demand an end to fossil fuels, but the Pacific has come forward to make this appeal today, according to Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s minister of climate change.
We believe that the only future that can guarantee our islands’ existence from the effects of climate change is a Pacific free of fossil fuels.
We are determined to strive towards this goal until the last barrel of oil, bottle of gas, or tonne of coal hurts the people on our Blue Pacific Continent. Our ambition and political will are apparent.
The meeting was held the day before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was scheduled to issue its most recent report.
The outcome document will be discussed at the next Pacific Energy Ministers meeting and the high-level climate ministerial meeting in Copenhagen the following week, the first international conference of decision-makers on climate policy since COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in November.
Hon. Seve Paeniu, the finance minister for Tuvalu, stated: “Even though we advocate for the abolition of fossil fuels, we recognise that Pacific Island nations continue to depend on them for both our everyday lives and economies.
We are organising our own just transition precisely for this reason.
The “Port Vila call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific” is our declaration that we will work tirelessly to establish a “Fossil Fuel Free Pacific,” realising that doing so will not only help us avoid the worst effects of climate change but will also provide an opportunity to advance economic growth and innovation.
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Leadership from the Pacific region has been crucial to the global strategy for combating climate change.
Vanuatu has recently spearheaded the push for an Advisory Opinion on climate change at the International Court of Justice, and Vanuatu and Tuvalu are the first nation states to formally call for negotiations of a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pacific policymakers were crucial in securing a 1.5oC target in the Paris Agreement.
This “Pacific Ministerial Conversation on Pathways for the Global Fair Transition away from Fossil Fuels” is the most recent in a line of initiatives promoting climate justice internationally.
Every year is a crucial year for climate action in the Pacific, a region that has historically had little to do with emissions but is yet one of the most affected and is also burdened with the obligation of leadership for formulating policy solutions.
This situation was stark at the meeting, which was held while Vanuatu recovered from two Category 4 severe tropical storms that made landfall within 72 hours of one another last week. The discussion took place during a State of Emergency.
Such weather systems already have more destructive force due to the warmer, wetter, and more energetic environment than in the past.
According to the IPCC, the production of fossil fuels, which accounted for 86% of all carbon dioxide emissions in the last ten years, is the main source of this catastrophe.
Despite this, the global increase of coal, oil, and gas production is generating historically high profits for the fossil fuel industry.
In reality, according to a UN analysis, if global warming is to be kept at 1.5°C, the world is on course to produce 110% more fossil fuels by 2030 than it can ever consume.
Leaders in the Pacific have long demanded more effort to manage the transition away from fossil fuels in response to this challenge.
The conclusion of this week’s summit in Vanuatu demonstrates a definite commitment to further up these diplomatic efforts in the months to come.
“We appreciate the Pacific leaders’ decision to commit to a Fossil Free Pacific and massively scale up the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency,” said Joseph Sikulu, managing director of 350.org Pacific.
No path to 1.5 degrees Celsius avoids significantly reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the use of just, egalitarian, and renewable energy sources.
Our people need world leaders to swiftly phase out fossil fuels in line with the initiative and leadership displayed by Pacific officials at the Pacific Ministerial Forum.
Yet our people also require energy to run their homes, fishing boats, and schools, and this is where we are prepared to collaborate with governments to further the creation and adoption of fossil-free growth paths at the local level.
International climate negotiations are failing us, according to Samoan Pacific Climate Warrior Brianna Fruean.
A Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty will be necessary for this debate of Pacific Ministers to acknowledge that we must try novel solutions to rescue ourselves.
The summit is giving the Pacific region’s leadership new vigour, which will not only reverberate throughout our islands but also motivate our allies throughout the world to take action while the guilty continue to profit from the spread of fossil fuels behind our backs.
Cansin Leylim, Associate Director of Global Campaigns at 350.org, said that Pacific Island countries are once again demonstrating outstanding leadership in the struggle against the climate disaster, which they did not contribute to yet is having the greatest effects on them.
Leaders from the Pacific have repeatedly emphasised the necessity for the historically responsible nations to make an immediate commitment to a future without fossil fuels in order to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.
This entails making sure sufficient and grant-based climate money is quickly mobilised to ensure energy independence and resource resilience with renewable energy while also adapting to the situation and limiting the heating to survival limits.
