Focus on polluters, emission cuts
Ahead of COP26, island nations across the Pacific demand ‘safe, habitable future’
In the build-up to the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, in Glasgow, much of the focus has been on the major polluters such as Australia and achieving netzero carbon emissions by 2050.
However, little has been said about what the Pacific island nations stand to lose if no positive agreement is reached in Glasgow.
Already many island nations scattered across the Pacific are feeling the impact of climate change as sea levels rise. Many of these nations sit just a few meters above sea level.
The World Bank, in a report titled “Legal Dimensions of Sea Level Rise: Pacific Perspectives”, warned on Oct 6 that some island nations will become “totally uninhabitable”.
The Pacific Islands Climate Action Network met on Oct 22 and issued a list of demands to world leaders ahead of COP26, saying they must provide “a safe and habitable future for the Pacific islands”.
The group called on the world’s wealthy nations to provide developing states $100 billion annually until 2025 and increase that sum to $750 billion a year beyond 2025, so they can invest in technologies to help live with a changing climate.
Former Kiribati president Anote Tong told the virtual gathering of Pacific climate-action organizations that the COP26 meeting would be the last chance to save Pacific island nations from the worst effects of climate change.
Siobhan McDonnell, senior lecturer at the Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy, said all governments must work harder to ensure the urgency of the climate situation facing all Pacific island nations is heard at COP26.
“There’s an urgency around Pacific
island countries; this is not just an issue of adaptation. There are issues of material and non-material loss and damage caused by the impact of climate change that are tangible and real,” McDonnell said in a statement.
Christian Downie, associate professor at the School of Regulation
and Global Governance at the Australian National University, said Pacific island nations face an “existential threat” from climate change.
For the Glasgow summit to be deemed a success, a few things need to go right, he said.
“First of all, countries need to commit not simply to net-zero targets by 2050, but stronger targets for 2030. Without them, there’s zero chance the world will hold the rise in global temperatures to 2 C,” Downie said.
“Major emitters will also need to support developing countries with the finance and technologies to enable them to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change impacts, including severe flooding and prolonged droughts.
Wesley Morgan, adjunct research fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute, said Pacific islands are at the frontline of climate change.
In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Oct 26 the government’s plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Called “The Australian Way: a whole-of-economy plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050”, the plan is based on existing policies but light on detail.
Joe Fontaine, lecturer in Fire Ecology at Murdoch University in Western Australia, described the policy as having all the strength of a “wet paper bag”. “Taking such a hollow policy to Glasgow will further solidify Australia’s reputation as a climate laggard and cheater dating back to Kyoto in 1997,” he said.
Professor Ian Lowe, emeritus professor of science, technology and society at Griffith University, was equally scathing, saying: “It is an extraordinary achievement to use 850 words to make a statement that tells us absolutely nothing about the plan the Australian prime minister says his government has to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.”