TUVALU used a United Nations (UN) sustainability forum to press rich nations for faster climate finance and reforms to the global financial system.
The island nation at the forefront the climate change warned that its development goals could not be met without urgent support for the world’s most vulnerable countries.
Speaking at the 2026 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at UN headquarters, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Panapasi Nelesone said Tuvalu remained committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals but argued that the world already knows what needs to be done and is now failing on delivery.
“As we enter the final stretch to 2030, the question before us is no longer whether we know what needs to be done. We do. The real question is whether we have the collective will to deliver on the promises we have made,” Nelesone said in Tuvalu’s national statement.
The forum, held under the theme “Delivering Better: Accelerating Urgent and Transformative Action to Achieve the SDGs by 2030,” is the UN’s main platform for reviewing progress on the 2030 Agenda.
For Tuvalu, one of the world’s smallest and most climate-exposed countries, sustainable development is inseparable from climate resilience.
The government said rising sea levels, droughts and economic shocks are intensifying pressure on the country’s development priorities and widening the gap between ambition and capacity.
Tuvalu said it is implementing the 2030 Agenda through Te Kete, its National Strategy for Sustainable Development, but called for accessible climate finance, changes to international financial institutions and stronger support for technology transfer and capacity-building.
Nelesone urged governments to act with urgency and solidarity.
“Let us ensure that when history looks back on this decisive decade, it will say that we chose action over delay, solidarity over indifference, and implementation over promises,” he said.
The appeal from Tuvalu comes as small island and least developed countries continue to argue that they bear the highest costs of climate change while contributing the least to the emissions driving it.
