AUSTRALIA’S Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the COP31 process would put Pacific priorities at the centre of climate negotiations, pledging a conference focused on implementation and acceleration as he opened a regional knowledge exchange.
“The Pacific, which has done so little to cause climate change and has so much at stake in combating climate change,” Bowen said. “No one is more important in that process than the Pacific.”
Bowen said the conference would elevate Pacific experiences and those of vulnerable island states, including countries in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean.
He said Pacific concerns had not been heard strongly enough in past COP processes.
“We must use COP31 to elevate the views and experiences of the Pacific in the COP processes, which have not been heard strongly enough in the past,” he said.
The minister said the conference must “match ambition with delivery” and be “about implementation and acceleration.”
He described COP31 as an opportunity for information and knowledge sharing, and said it would be “transparent, predictable, and inclusive for all.”
Bowen highlighted climate finance, oceans and the effects of global warming as issues requiring greater attention in negotiations. He said countries most in need of adaptation finance often struggle hardest to obtain it, while oceans had not been treated strongly enough in negotiations.
He also called for countries to fulfil past pledges on renewable energy and energy efficiency, and to put electrification alongside expanded renewable energy.
Bowen said Pacific nations faced particularly serious risks, pointing to low-lying atolls and describing the region as having “the most at stake” from climate change.
He said a visit to Tuvalu would bring 34 leaders and influential people, including presidents of multilateral development banks, to raise the profile of Pacific issues.
Australia, he said, was “a proud member of the Pacific.”
“We share a region, we share an ocean, and we share a future,” Bowen said. “And we all succeed with the Pacific safe, resilient, and prosperous.”
Bowen said reaching agreement among more than 190 parties would be difficult, but argued that multilateral cooperation mattered more in a challenging geopolitical environment. “In a difficult environment, a region which has not had its voices heard, like the Pacific, has had its voices heard.”
