Pre-COP31: Pacific leaders air frustration over climate finance delays

Pacific Island leaders are expressing frustration over how long they have been discussing climate finance without seeing the results they want and need.

At Pre-COP31 meeting in Fiji and Tuvalu, leaders discussed how to make sure climate finance actually reaches the communities who need it most.

Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen acknowledged that improving access to finance was an important priority.

“This is not about the quantum of finance, but this is about ensuring those countries and communities that need it the most get it the most, and those who currently need it the most struggle the most.”

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown was frustrated over the never-ending repetitive conversations.

He shared how in his 15 years as finance minister, he has seen the Pacific bring the same messages to global climate gatherings, but with little practical action.

“We are stuck in a painful loop, and somehow we keep finding increasingly creative ways to arrive back at exactly the same conversation,” he said.

“I say this with respect. We know the needs, we know the barriers, we know that our people cannot afford to wait.”

As world leaders prepare to meet in Türkiye for COP31 in November, he is calling for words to become action.

Mark Brown added that climate finance plans can be made and discussed, but the dollars mean nothing until they actually reach communities.

“Next year I hope that we will be discussing what changed, rather than what to call another initiative. Because let us be direct about what access means. A fund can report that money is available. A government can report that an application is progressing. Both statements can be true, while a community remains unprotected.”

Fiji’s Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica echoed his sentiments, saying by the time funds arrive, it is too late.

“The climate finance problem has never been only about how much money exists in the system. It is about how far out of reach that money sits,” he said.

“Our outlying islands that needs a seawall or reliable water systems cannot wait for multi-year approval cycles.

“By the time finance arrives, the context and needs have changed, and the opportunity for prevention has passed or worse still, damage has already been done.”

He too is frustrated by how long the conversation has been going for.

“We have run this discussion in overlapping circles, only to find the gap wider, provisions tighter, competition higher, and results meagre.

“Access to finance is not only a concept and a principle to frame these debates and discussions; it is an objective we must actively drive and fund.”

Fiji’s Environment Minister Lynda Tabuya is challenging world leaders to “deliver” as they meet in Türkiye in November.

“The message from this room is sharp. Ambition must be matched by cooperation, and cooperation must be matched by action. COP 31 must deliver outcomes that people can feel on the ground, in our communities, and across our economies,” she said.

She said without access to climate finance, the door to climate action is shut.

According to Tabuya, it is more important now than ever for adequate and easy to access financing is made available.

A UN report acknowledged that keeping global warming below 1.5°C is no longer possible, even if countries honour all of their current emissions pledges.

Best-case scenarios now showed global temperature increases would peak at about 1.8°C – which is likely beyond the threshold for some ‘tipping points’ and could cause the loss of the world’s coral reefs.

Tabuya said Pacific people are speaking on behalf of the Ocean.

“Large ocean states have been clear on this importance: that it is because they live amongst it, we understand it, and as the stewards of it, we have a responsibility to sound the alarm when it is under threat.”

The United Nations Secretary General’s special envoy for the ocean reminded leaders of the impacts rising temperatures have on the ocean.

Abassador Peter Thomson noted that by hosting Pre-COP31 in the Pacific, the regions leaders in attendance are all too familiar with this.

“The ocean acts as planet Earth’s primary climate regulator by absorbing over 90 percent of excess heat and roughly 25 to 30 percent of human carbon dioxide emissions.

“This absorption is having negative effects, notably ocean acidification, deoxygenation, and warming, leading to the disruption of marine ecosystems, death of coral, and rising sea levels.”

He said the regions demands have been very clear.

“So the resounding message from the Pacific Pre-Cop should be that never again should Mother Ocean, the planet’s primary climate regulator, be consigned to the backroads of deliberations.”

The Pre-COP31 is the last major Pacific ministerial meeting before COP31 in Türkiye.