Fiji pre-COP31 talks end with a plan to make climate finance easier for island states to reach
The pre-COP31 meeting in Fiji ended on October 8 with a plan, launched by COP31 negotiations chair Chris Bowen, to make climate finance quicker and easier to reach for small island states and the poorest countries. Pledges to the Pacific Resilience Facility stand just below 200 million dollars against a 500 million dollar target by COP31. Fiji’s climate minister says the talks included concrete commitments on resilience, renewable energy and infrastructure.
Geopolitics··Midday
Bowen launches a plan to ease access to climate finance
The pre-COP31 meeting in Fiji closed on October 8 after a week of talks in which Pacific countries pressed for climate finance and ocean protection ahead of COP31, the UN climate conference.[1], [2]
Chris Bowen, Australia’s Climate and Energy Minister, who chairs the COP31 negotiations, said the access plan for small island states and the world’s poorest countries was launched on Thursday and that he will seek support from governments and multilateral development banks. The plan acknowledges progress in making international climate funding easier and quicker to obtain, but says persistent barriers still limit access and that available funding falls short of climate goals. It stresses grants and highly concessional financing, particularly for adaptation and for loss and damage, and proposes an annual high-level forum on access to climate finance to monitor implementation.[1]
Pacific adaptation fund sits just below 200 million dollars against a 500 million target
The Pacific Resilience Facility aims to use investment returns to back community adaptation projects such as water storage, sea walls and protecting homes from storms. Pledges to it stand just below 200 million dollars, and governments in Europe and the Pacific promised about 15 million dollars during the meeting in Fiji.[1]
The facility aims to reach 500 million dollars by COP31 and to mobilise 1.5 billion dollars in capital over the longer term. Announcing the access plan does not mean those targets have been met or that the barriers to access have been removed.[1]
Fiji points to concrete commitments and the COP31 president backs the 1.5-degree goal
Fiji’s climate minister, Lynda Tabuya, said the Nadi meeting included concrete commitments for climate resilience, renewable energy and infrastructure.[2]
Representatives of about 50 countries attended. Tabuya said the hosts wanted to bring decision-makers to places where climate impacts are directly experienced and, at the closing session, urged delegates to carry the stories they had heard in the Pacific into later negotiations. COP31 President Murat Kurum said resources must reach those in need promptly and accessibly, called the 1.5-degree goal a matter of survival for the Pacific and backed the call for contributions.[1]
