15 July 2024
The inquiry will:
Identify the key priorities for Pacific Island countries and the Pacific region.
Evaluate the key concerns and aspirations of Pacific nations regarding their economic, environmental, and social development.
Examine the role and capability of Pacific regional architecture and agencies, including in the delivery of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific, and the contributions of external partners to regional development and stability.
Assess Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation responses in the Pacific.
Evaluate Australia's climate support and initiatives aimed at mitigating climate change and assisting Pacific nations in adapting to its impacts.
Evaluate Australia's role in supporting Pacific nations during natural disasters and national emergencies, including pandemics.
Identify opportunities for enhanced regional economic integration and mobility.
Response to 1(a) and 3(a)
Australia is a member of the Pacific Island Forum and as such should be aware of the priorities of the Pacific. For the Pacific we point to the Pacific Island Forum Leaders Communique PIFLM52 wherein the aspiration for a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific is laid out.
We further point to the PIF statement that climate change is the single greatest security threat to the region. The continued use and expansion of fossil fuels by Australia is compounding the climate crisis and threatening the survival of Pacific Island States.
We frame our response to the inquiry around climate justice(1) which is key to the aspirations of Pacific nations in their economic, environmental and social development as everything now hinges on the ambition of those who created the crisis in the first place to urgently act to ensure a future that is 1.5C aligned.
With negligible emissions, Pacific Island Countries (PIC)’s are already facing significant impacts which demand climate justice in supporting PICs to adapt to where possible and address impacts. Finance is a key enabler to the economic, social and environmental aspirations of PICS.
It is the obligation of Historic polluters to uphold the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Australia is legally obliged to do so. The multilateral space of the UNFCCC is of great importance for PICs where we are able to exercise an equal voice. It is therefore paramount that Australia does not attempt to weaken the Convention or the Paris Agreement in any way or form, but work towards strengthening it in accordance to PIC priorities.
Climate Just Finance is inadequate
Research(2) has shown that whilst Australia has provided climate finance in the last decade in grant form, this finance has not been additional to its existing development finance. While there was a nominal increase in climate-related official development finance over the decade, this was offset by a larger decrease in non-climate official development finance. This means that the climate finance provided did not represent new resources but rather a reallocation of existing funds taking away from other areas of need for PICS in creating the ‘enabling’ environments for sustainable development.
In addition it was found that the provision of climate finance by Australia was not consistent or predictable, undermining the ability of PICs to plan and implement long-term climate action effectively. While Australia's climate finance was relatively focused on adaptation, the distribution of adaptation finance did not consistently align with the relative vulnerability of PICs, and some of the most vulnerable countries received less adaptation finance on a per capita basis.
Australia's climate finance did not represent its fair share according to its capability, measured as a percentage of Gross National Income (GNI). In addition, Australia’s political volatility and changes in governance and institutional structures, such as the absorption of AusAID into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the abolition of the Office of Development Effectiveness, led to a loss of climate expertise and a disruption in the consistency of climate policy and finance. These shifts resulted in a decrease in the emphasis on climate change in Australia’s development policy documents during certain periods.
Australia has not supported the PIC priorities for climate finance to date and can do so by supporting the position of AOSIS(3) as articulated in their submission on the structure of the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance. All the elements within this submission are paramount for PICs.
Australia is Not Aspiring to A Fossil Fuel Free Pacific
Australia’s continued expansion of fossil fuels is dangerous and detrimental to PICS Fossil Fuel Free Pacific priority and commitment to the transition away from coal, oil and gas in line with 1.5°C pathways. The extreme threat posed by the continued expansion of fossil fuels will deeply impact the stability and security of Pacific communities. The continued use and expansion of fossil fuels will significantly threaten the development objectives of PICs and furthermore is contrary to the science to ensure that we can keep in line with 1.5°C.
The need to urgently establish a Pacific Energy Commissioner is imperative to implementing the Fossil Fuel Free Pacific and Australia could significantly help in this regard through meeting its fair share of climate finance obligations.
We point to: Australia’s recent Gas Strategy which is misaligned with the scientific evidence and the urgent need to address the climate crisis. To fulfil its international commitments and protect vulnerable nations, Australia must prioritise a rapid transition away from fossil fuels, including gas, and invest in renewable energy solutions that can deliver a just and equitable energy future for all.
We also point to the Dominance of Australian Government and Industry Interests in carbon markets in the Pacific and in particular in the development of Fiji’s Carbon Market strategy. This raises concerns about the impartiality of the roadmap and the potential for it to serve external commercial interests over Fiji’s environmental and social needs. Carbon markets are not a viable solution and lead to the continued use and expansion of fossil fuels which does not align to a fossil-fuel-free future.
We note that there are significant discrepancies between stated commitments and actions. The Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty Article 2.2b acknowledges the statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu. However, the continued use of fossil fuels appears to conflict with this recognition and the sovereignty of all Pacific Island Countries (PICs). Furthermore, while the Tuvaluan Government has the discretion to enter into treaties, it would have been prudent for Australia to ensure that democratic principles and transparency were upheld through comprehensive consultation with Tuvaluans prior to finalizing the agreement.
Australia is to submit an enhanced National Determined Contribution. We hope that Australia heeds the priorities of the Pacific and reconsiders its current climate targets, aligning them with the scientific consensus to limit global warming to 1.5°C. This means at the very least, at the lowest end of ambition, a 67% reduction relative to 2005 levels by 2030, and achieving net zero by 2038. This would be aligned with Pacific priorities and saving Pacific lives.
Immediate and substantial actions are required from Australia to support the aspirations and resilience of the Pacific region. This includes committing to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, and aligning national plans to 1.5oC. providing adequate and fair climate finance, and ensuring that development initiatives genuinely enhance the sustainable development and sovereignty of Pacific nations.
In addressing climate change and security in the Pacific, it is also imperative to consider the nuclear legacy and increasing militarization of the region. The Boe Declaration emphasizes climate security and human security over militarization, yet significant military funding and fossil fuel subsidies overshadow the aid and finance provided for socio-economic development. In solidarity with First Nations Australians, we reject the Australian Submarine Agency's proposal to store radioactive waste at Meeandip (Garden Island) in Western Australia, a site historically impacted by nuclear testing on Indigenous lands. Furthermore, the alarming support for nuclear energy by some Australian factions poses a direct threat to Pacific Island Countries (PICs), contradicting the urgent need for renewable energy solutions that are faster, cheaper, and safer.
As the threat of displacement increases among Pacific nations, it is crucial to establish safe and rights-based migration pathways. Ensuring these pathways is essential for protecting the social cohesion of Pacific communities and supporting their economic and social stability. Australia's approach to migration should be rights-based, recognizing the unique vulnerabilities and needs of displaced Pacific peoples.
Additionally, we would urge Australia to support a moratorium on deep-sea mining (DSM) to protect our oceans. This is especially important in light of the latest ITLOS advisory opinion on state obligations, which highlights the potential for dispossession of Indigenous communities due to rare earth minerals mining.
Additional Comments for Consideration
It is important to acknowledge the complex dynamics that arise from Australia and New Zealand both providing significant funding to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) while also being active members of the Forum. This dual role presents potential conflicts of interest, as it places them in a position where they are both financiers and participants. Although Australia and New Zealand often emphasise that they allow Pacific leaders to take the forefront in discussions and decision-making, it is crucial to recognize that this perceived deference occurs in the context of their financial influence over the Forum. The control over funding by these two nations inevitably impacts the autonomy of Pacific leaders, who may feel constrained in their discussions and decisions due to the financial leverage held by Australia and New Zealand. Addressing this imbalance is essential to ensure that the PIFS operates as a truly independent body that genuinely reflects the interests and aspirations of all its members.
As we anticipate the discussions at COP31, it is imperative to recognize the evolving focus towards Pacific Islanders. Effective engagement with Pacific civil society will require a comprehensive approach that includes Indigenous and First Nations Australians, who are also severely impacted by climate change, as well as by extractive industries and land dispossession. Their inclusion is not only a matter of justice but also essential for fostering genuine and holistic climate action. Ensuring that Indigenous voices are heard and integrated into the dialogue will strengthen the solidarity and effectiveness of our collective efforts to address climate challenges.
The overseas worker schemes have inadvertently contributed to a substantial loss of skilled and unskilled labour from the Pacific region, threatening the economic development of these countries while primarily benefiting Australia. The benefits are not adequately redistributed back to the islands, aside from individual remittances. These schemes should be restructured to provide upskilling and technological capacity building for Pacific workers, enabling them to significantly contribute to their home countries’ development. This includes essential sectors like renewable energy infrastructure, desalination plant maintenance, and agroecology to ensure food sovereignty and reduce dependency on expensive imported food.
Supporting the right to self-determination is paramount for regions such as West Papua and Noumea. Australia's role should be to uphold these rights without backing colonial interests.
Annex: Pacific Climate Justice Demands 2023
PACIFIC CLIMATE JUSTICE DEMANDS – A CALL TO ACTION(4)
PREAMBLE
We, the representatives from 19 Pacific Island countries and 30 other nations, representing frontline communities, national governments, civil society, faith communities, academic institutions, development partners, and the private sector, met virtually and in the hubs in Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu from the 4th to the 5th of October, 2022 for the Pacific Climate Justice Summit, Securing Climate Justice: From Grassroots Action to Global Traction, organized by the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network and its partners.
In the lead-up to the Twenty-seventh session of the Conference of Parties (COP27), we reaffirm our role to put pressure on leaders and governments to deliver an ambitious climate change outcome - necessary to secure the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature warming to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
We resoundingly make clear that the 1.5 degrees celsius goal is a lifeline for the Pacific Island people, communities and ecosystems.
We reaffirm the latest 6th Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which has indisputably confirmed the Pacific's decades-long warnings about the climate realities that people, communities, and ecosystems are confronting in the face of this immense existential threat.
We acknowledge that Pacific Island peoples and communities are rising to the challenge to build climate resilience, drawing from the strength, wisdom and knowledge of our traditions and cultures, and from proven technologies, innovative ideas, and western science to form solutions that work in our contexts, for our peoples and communities.
As representatives led by and accountable to the demands of our people, communities, and constituencies we outline the following demands to Leaders, Governments, and the international community to secure the future of our Blue Pacific Continent, and the future of our one Blue Planet.
CLIMATE JUSTICE
The clear lack of action of rich, industrialized, high emissions-producing, and polluting nations is disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable countries and frontline communities, which are experiencing climate shocks with increasing frequency and intensity.
We strongly reiterate the voices and the realities of our communities, that climate change is already having serious social, economic, political, cultural, and ecological implications, threatening peace and security, and undermining the full enjoyment of human rights. Disproportionately impacted are marginalized and vulnerable groups such as indigenous communities, children, youth, people with disabilities, persons of diverse sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC), climate migrants and elderly people.
We call on all Governments, including the Pacific, intergovernmental organizations, CROP agencies, development actors, private sector, and other key stakeholders to centre the voices of our communities in climate change discourse, policy, and practice at the local, national, regional, and global levels, and to strongly uphold the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
We call on Governments, including the Pacific, intergovernmental organizations, CROP agencies, development actors, the private sector, and other key stakeholders to actively and meaningfully support young people and youth who form the majority of the Pacific region’s population, and as the voice of the next generation is a critical partner in building a just, sustainable, and resilient Blue Pacific continent.
We emphasize the importance of inclusive, intergenerational, integrated, people-centred and human rights-based approaches to climate mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage measures, conforming to the Paris Agreement, the Global Compact for Migration, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and other internationally adopted Conventions.
We underscore the importance of enhancing research, disaggregated data collection, risk analysis, knowledge and information sharing to better map, understand and manage the challenges related to the adverse impacts of climate change in a manner that considers an intersectionality approach.
We are united as one Pacific voice and will genuinely and assertively stand our ground as Pacific Island advocates, promoting the core principles of climate justice, good governance, human rights, intergenerational equity, self-determination, Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Leaving No One Behind.
We recall the historic UN Resolution that recognizes that a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a human right, confirming the decision of the UN Human Rights Council (48/13) that this is an inherent right, and that our health, well-being, and survival all depend on a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
We are resolute, standing in solidarity with the people of West Papua, Kanaky and Maohi Nui in their struggles for self-determination, to free their people from the ecological impunity, and absence of justice that originating from state-sponsored colonial interests.
We call on all Governments and State Parties to endorse and support the Vanuatu initiative to seek through a UN General Assembly resolution an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, clarifying the obligations of states to protect the rights of current and future generations in the context of climate change and human rights.
LOSS AND DAMAGE
We are living through an era of Loss and Damage resulting from climate change, and our communities are experiencing unprecedented economic and non-economic Loss and Damage. At COP27, we strongly insist that Parties must take the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage into a new action-based direction beyond dialogues, taskforces and clearing houses.
Governments and Parties to the UNFCCC must acknowledge that there is no funding arrangement to provide a fit-for-purpose response to address Loss & Damage.
Parties must agree on establishing Loss and Damage as a permanent, standalone agenda item for all future COP and Subsidiary Body meetings, and that Loss and Damage Finance is on the agenda as a sub-item of “Matters relating to Finance”.
Parties must agree at COP 27 on establishing a dedicated Loss and Damage Finance Facility. The Loss and Damage Finance Facility will mobilize new, additional, needs-based, and predictable finance, that is targeted and channelled to the vulnerable people and communities who need it most, including in the Pacific, that does not compete for limited resources within existing mechanisms.
Parties must exhaust all means available to help fragile and vulnerable communities in the Pacific address irreversible Loss and Damage from climate change.
GENDER, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
State and non-state actors must redouble their efforts to ensure that gender transformative, socially inclusive, and human rights approaches are mainstreamed in all decision-making processes and climate change responses, and which take into consideration the diverse and specific needs, experiences and contexts of communities and groups affected by climate change.
State and non-state actors must focus on developing a deeper understanding of the intersectional identities of vulnerable and marginalized groups, to ensure appropriate, adequate, and inclusive responses such as reasonable accommodation, inclusive digital technologies and other disability-specific needs, safety, security and protection of women, girls, elderly persons, and persons of diverse sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions.
Governments when planning and designing climate action response policies, including revising, and updating their National Determined Contributions (NDCs), should ensure that gender experts, including women and gender-related groups and national gender machinery, are meaningfully and effectively engaged in the process.
Governments must reaffirm their commitment to the UNFCCC enhanced Gender Action Plan (UNFCCC GAP) and the resourcing and implementation of all its five priority areas that aim to advance knowledge and understanding of gender-responsive climate action.
CLIMATE MOBILITY
Governments must implement sound legal and policy frameworks to support safe, voluntary, and dignified migration as a positive choice.
Governments must address human mobility concerns in the context of climate change at all levels, through inclusive, participatory planning, promoting people-centred, human rights, gender transformative approaches and upholding the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
CLIMATE FINANCE
Wealthy developed countries must deliver a climate finance delivery plan to fulfil the US$ 100 billion annual goal over the period 2020-2025, with 50% directed to adaptation, and they must improve the quantity and quality of the climate finance so that it doesn’t aggravate climate injustice, nor undermine the fiscal space of developing countries, and with it, their ability to protect the rights and livelihoods of climate-affected people and communities.
Developed countries should announce new and additional grant-based adaptation finance pledges, to address the current chronic underfunding of adaptation, and prevent the climate injustice of forcing developing countries into unsustainable debt to finance urgent climate actions.
Ongoing discussions for a needs-based New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance (NCQG) prioritizing new and additional grant financing must address shortcomings and injustices in the current climate finance provisions.
Governments, multilateral development banks, financial institutions and donor agencies must improve the volume and quality of climate finance that frontline communities can access immediately and with greater flexibility, simplifying direct access to climate finance for affected people and communities, and providing climate finance that is human rights-centred and gender-responsive.
Governments, multilateral development banks, financial institutions and donor agencies must address access at the national and local levels by reforming the larger public climate finance architecture, enhancing predictability, flexibility, openness, and speed of climate finance disbursement to frontline climate-affected and grassroots communities.
Governments, multilateral development banks, financial institutions and donor agencies must commit to long-term capacity strengthening of frontline community groups, drawing from both traditional knowledge and indigenous wisdom, and western science and innovation to implement sustainable, scalable, and impactful solutions.
FOSSIL FUELS
We call on fossil fuels producing countries to immediately stop the expansion of fossil fuel industries, putting an end to all new oil, coal, and gas projects. Governments must end the harmful practice of subsidising the fossil fuels industries, and public and private sector financial institutions should divest away from fossil fuels industries.
We are resolute in our efforts to support Pacific Island governments in the development and implementation of climate policy, frameworks, guidelines, and pathways for just transition
(1) PICAN et al (2022). Pacific Climate Justice Demands - see annex
(2) Ledger, E., and Klock, C. (2023) Climate justice through climate finance? Australia’s approach to climate finance in the Pacific, Nature.
(3) AOSIS (June 2024). Views On The New Collective Quantified Goal On Climate Finance. UNFCCC
(4) PICAN et al (2022). Pacific Climate Justice Demands
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