Overview:
Energy experts from across the Pacific are sounding the alarm: the region’s latest fuel crisis was predictable, preventable — and must not be wasted. Speaking at the Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue, specialists from Samoa, Vanuatu, and Micronesia urged island nations to move urgently toward renewable energy, overhaul regional shipping, and put communities at the center of the transition. For Palau, one of the most import-dependent nations in the world, the message could not be more timely.
KOROR, Palau — Energy experts from across the Pacific sounded an urgent call June 17 for island nations, including Palau, to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels, warning that the current regional fuel crisis was both foreseeable and preventable.
Speaking at the Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue — the region’s largest security gathering, convened under the framework of the Boe Declaration on Regional Security and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent — a panel of specialists said the crisis must not be allowed to pass without lasting structural change.
The four-member panel, titled “Regional Cooperation for the Energy Transition,” brought together voices from the Pacific Community (SPC), the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa, the Office of the Pacific Energy Regulator Alliance, and the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport.
A Crisis That Was Always Coming
Dr. Peter Nuttall, scientific and technical adviser for the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport, did not mince words. The Pacific has faced similar fuel shocks before — in the 1980s and again in 2008 — and the region remains unprepared.
“Here we are in another oil crisis, and everyone is surprised,” Nuttall said. “But the reality was that this was always going to happen, and we are totally unprepared for something that we should be so prepared for.”
For Palau and its Micronesian neighbors — nations almost entirely dependent on imported fuel for electricity, transport and daily life — the warning carries particular weight. Nuttall identified decarbonizing shipping as “the most important economic decision this region makes going into the future,” arguing that a regional commitment to renewable energy 15 years ago would have shielded many countries from today’s transportation crisis.
“We’re the most import-dependent region in the world,” he said. “As long as we’re going to rely on those imports and not change the way we operate our most essential transport modality, nothing else is going to change.”
Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Responses Needed
Ngedikes Olai Uludong, the first woman to lead the energy portfolio at SPC and the organization’s deputy director of the Georesources and Energy Programme, called for a phased regional strategy.
In the immediate term, she said, coordinated access to fuel for critical services is essential. In the medium term, regional information-sharing must improve so policymakers can make data-driven decisions. Long-term, the focus must shift toward reducing dependence on fossil fuels through renewables and electrification.
“Everyone wants solutions and to make informed decisions, but without data, you don’t have available information to make those decisions,” Uludong said.
She also pointed to the Blue Concrete Initiative — an effort to replace expensive imported cement with low-carbon alternatives — as an example of how small pilot projects can seed long-term change relevant to Palau’s construction sector.
Renewables Are Not a Silver Bullet — Yet
Toleafoa Annie Tuisuga, manager of the Environment and Renewable Energy Division at the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa, cautioned that the transition requires careful sequencing. She noted that electric vehicles are frequently cited as a greener transport option, but connecting them to a grid still powered primarily by diesel undermines the environmental benefit.
“We’re also mindful of bringing in so many [EVs] when you’re just connecting or charging them to the grid, and your grid is mostly diesel,” Tuisuga said.
Her caution echoes conditions across much of Micronesia, where diesel generation remains the backbone of power supply. Palau has made progress in expanding solar capacity but has yet to fully wean its grid from fossil fuels.
Tuisuga also emphasized that the fuel crisis falls unevenly on those least able to absorb it. “It’s obviously felt hardest in the low socio-economic households. It’s felt hardest in our rural areas and our outer areas,” she said, urging policymakers to prioritize locally led renewable alternatives that reduce underlying fuel dependency.
Lessons From Vanuatu’s Community Energy Model
Antony Garae, coordinator of the Office of the Pacific Energy Regulator Alliance and a former deputy director of Vanuatu’s National Green Energy Fund, shared how community-centered energy programs can deliver results even in remote settings.
The Vanuatu fund has completed more than 300 small-scale energy access projects, beginning with solar systems for schools and health centers in remote islands, then expanding to nearby households.
Garae pointed to one often-overlooked tool: energy efficiency. Simply reducing demand at homes and offices, he said, can lower the burden on diesel generators without requiring major infrastructure investment.
“If we were to promote end-use efficiency, we reduce the demand,” Garae said.
The Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue is presented by 13 organizations, including the Pacific Security College, and is grounded in the Boe Declaration’s expanded definition of security, which encompasses climate change and resource scarcity alongside traditional security concerns.
