Climate compromise expected as Pacific leaders seek Scott Morrison’s support

FUNAFUTI, Aug 15, 2019, ABC. Tuvalu’s Prime Minister is paving the way for a compromise on climate change, to ensure Australia agrees to a consensus position by the region’s leading Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), reported the ABC News.

As host of the annual gathering of Pacific leaders, Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga has pushed climate change to the top of the agenda, calling for stronger action from countries like Australia.

Leaders of smaller island states want Australia to agree to do more to reduce emissions and a timetable to phase out the use of coal in the power sector.

But with the Australian Government pushing back, Pacific leaders are prioritising getting everyone on board.

“I don’t want to interfere in internal arrangements in Australia,” Mr Sopoaga said.

“There is a lot of pressure.”

He emphasised the need to reach a consensus.

“We have to address the urgency [so] we cannot afford to talk the whole day for nothing,” he told the ABC.

Smaller Pacific nations are hoping they can take a strong statement from the PIF to the United Nation’s Climate Action Forum in New York next month to encourage global leaders to do more to tackle climate change.

Reaching a compromise with Australia on the wording of the PIF statement would avoid the risk of the talks breaking down.

Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi wants an agreement reached, but said it was important to push for a strong statement.

“At these conferences we have to be hard to deliver the message that we are the first to go under, compared to Australia,” Mr Tuilaepa said.

“They have huge tracts of land they can retreat to … we have nothing.

“By rights, the leaders of the Pacific nations ought to be harsh in their comments and push as much as possible … the arguments for stopping climate change.”

One of the demands from the Pacific has been for countries to agree to a timetable on phasing out the use of coal in the power sector.

But Mr Tuilaepa said he understood the “dilemma” of Australia wanting to continue to use cheap coal and protect workers’ jobs and business interests.

“A special difficulty that Australian governments face: they have a lot of fossil fuel and they’re required not to use it,” he said.

“It is cheaper for them to use [coal], but the damage done to the atmosphere, to the world, is dramatic.”

To rapidly phase out the use of coal would require “a lot of courage by the leadership”, he added.

Mr Tuilaepa welcomed Australia’s five-year, $500 million aid commitment to help Pacific countries with renewable energy and climate resilience projects.

All of the leaders in Tuvalu for the PIF are in a leaders’ retreat and are expected to finish negotiations by the end of the day.

They will also be discussing issues including employment, security, fisheries management and pollution.