International: Pacific
Pacific Island bid for carbon price on shipping fails to gain support
17 Jun 2021
Pacific island nations made the case for a carbon price to tackle shipping’s climate impact at the UN body responsible for seaborne transport yesterday, but found only tepid support.
Climate change a Pacific reality
16 Jun 2021
In the 1960s and ‘70s Pago Pago in American Samoa averaged 85 cool nights, that’s nights under 23c, per year, now they have just four. The number of days hotter than 32c has gone from nine to about 22.
Air Tahiti Nui offers CarbonClick offsets
3 Jun 2021
New Zealand tech company CarbonClick has signed up a second international airline to its offsetting programme.
Eighty two per cent of heat deaths in Honolulu due to global warming
2 Jun 2021
More than one-third of the world’s heat deaths each year are due directly to global warming, according to the latest study to calculate the human cost of climate change.
Support for Rarotongan climate research
3 May 2021
International agencies Aqualink.org and View into the Blue have donated advanced marine monitoring equipment for deployment in Rarotonga.
Pacific plan to decarbonise shipping
27 Apr 2021
The Marshall Islands is calling for a greenhouse levy on gas to speed up the decarbonisation of shipping.
Marshall and Solomon Islands call for $100 levy on shipping emissions
12 Apr 2021
The Marshall and Solomon Islands are calling on the International Maritime Organisation to introduce a US$100 levy on GHG emissions.
Questions over Samoa flood defence project
22 Feb 2021
Flood walls in Samoa financed by the UN’s flagship climate fund are inadequate and could put people in danger, experts warn.
Is Pacific Forum Zoomed to fail?
2 Feb 2021
Pacific diplomacy hinges on in-person discussion but web-only meetings have fed a growing dispute over the forum’s leadership and purpose.
How Pacific nations can survive climate change
1 Jul 2020
They contribute only 0.03 per cent of global carbon emissions, but small island developing states, particularly in the Pacific, are at extreme risk to the threats of climate change.
Honolulu mayor wants to sue Big Oil
8 Nov 2019
Honolulu mayor Kirk Caldwell wants the city to sue major oil companies for the damage he says they have done to the island of Oahu.
Cook Islands sacked me, says opponent of seabed mining
22 Oct 2019
The public champion of the world’s largest marine reserve – the Cook Islands’ Marae Moana – has said she lost her job managing it because she supported a moratorium on seabed mining in the Pacific.
Rugby stars are losing their Pacific islands
2 Oct 2019
Whatever happens on the pitches, rugby stars from the Pacific islands face a battle back home to save their ancestral lands from rising sea levels.
Pacific nations seek cash to clean up shipping
25 Sep 2019
A coalition of Pacific island nations wants to raise $500m to make all shipping in the Pacific Ocean zero carbon by the middle of the century.
Surf's still up but climate is changing Hawaiian beaches
16 Aug 2019
Climate change is taking the fun out of surfing, swimming, and snorkeling in Hawaii.
Australia seeks to water down Tuvalu declaration
14 Aug 2019
Australia is trying to water down a declaration on the urgent need for climate action at the South Pacific Forum meeting about to get under way in Tuvalu.
Australia puts $500m into Pacific climate fund
13 Aug 2019
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil a $500m climate change and oceans funding package for the Pacific region when he attends the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu this week.
Fiji calls world leaders selfish and irresponsible
8 Aug 2019
Fiji will introduce one of the world’s most ambitious legislative programmes to tackle the climate crisis, and has labelled the global community grossly irresponsible and selfish.
NZ stays out of islands' beef with Australia
2 Aug 2019
New Zealand is not joining other Pacific countries in criticising Australia’s plans to use Kyoto credits to meet its Paris Agreement target.
Pacific leaders serve Australia with blunt warning
1 Aug 2019
Pacific leaders have called on Australia to abandon plans to use carry-over credits to meet Paris climate targets and to immediately stop new coalmining, warning some of their countries could be uninhabitable as soon as 2030.
Energy company brings solar to islands
22 Jul 2019
New Zealand sustainable energy company Infratec has successfully completed a $16 million project to deliver reliable renewable energy to four islands in the Cooks.
Migration can't be only option on drowning islands
5 Jul 2019
The story of Kiritimati atoll sheds light on the issues facing those living on such islands all around the world, and the inadequacy of current international policy.
Vanuatu eyes ban on disposable nappies
24 Jun 2019
Vanuatu, which has already introduced one of the toughest single-use plastic bans , is believed to be the first nation to propose a ban on disposable nappies.
Pacific sucks up more anthropogenic emissions
5 Jun 2019
The rate that the Pacific Ocean takes up human-caused emissions of carbon has increased between 1991 and 2017, a new study finds.
Pacific leaders urge Morrison to act
23 May 2019
Pacific leaders have urged Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do more to fight the climate crisis.
Heat makes ocean winds and waves more fierce
6 May 2019
The great swells of the Pacific are beginning to swell even more as fiercer ocean winds and waves leave their mark.
More than 80 Fiji villages on relocation list
2 May 2019
More than 80 Fiji communities have been earmarked by the government for potential future relocation.
Pacific cities call for rethink of climate resilience
24 Apr 2019
Climate change planning for Pacific Islands cities and towns has been limited, despite their rapid growth.
Climate no laughing matter, Fiji warns Australia
23 Jan 2019
Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama used the Australian leader’s visit to call out his promotion of fossil fuels, showing Scott Morrison is on the wrong side in the Pacific as well as at home.
Vanuatu eyes climate action against fossil fuel companies
23 Nov 2018
Vanuatu says it will explore whether it can take legal action against fossil fuel companies and countries for their role in causing climate change.
Marshalls first to submit new climate targets
22 Nov 2018
The Marshall Islands is the first country to submit new, binding climate targets to the United Nations this week, sending a signal to other countries to commit to more ambitious emissions cuts.
Ardern talks climate on Asia-Pacific swing
20 Nov 2018
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern used international talks in Papua New Zealand and Singapore to push for action on climate change, her office says.
Palau bans sunscreen to protect coral reefs
8 Nov 2018
Palau is set to become the first country to ban reef-toxic sunscreen.
Nauruans (and refugees) have nowhere to hide
23 Oct 2018
Everyone on Nauru – indigenous Nauruans and refugees alike – is experiencing the impacts of one the greatest social, economic and political threats faced by the world today: global environmental change.
Marshalls vow to be carbon neutral by 2050
27 Sep 2018
The Marshall Islands have released a comprehensive climate strategy to go carbon-neutral by 2050, becoming the first island nation to do so.
Australia tried to water down Pacific stand, says PM
7 Sep 2018
Australia tried to water down a resolution on climate change agreed by country representatives at the Pacific Islands Forum, a leader attending the event has claimed.
NZ backs Pacific call for UN to do more
6 Sep 2018
New Zealand is backing other Pacific nations calling for the United Nations to up its game over the security threats posed by climate change.
Mental hospital best for some leaders, says Samoa PM
3 Sep 2018
Samoan leaderTuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has called climate change an “existential threat ... for all our Pacific family” and said that any world leader who denied climate change’s existence should be taken to a mental hospital.
STORM SURGE: Hurricane Lane carries warning for the Pacific
27 Aug 2018
Warming water in the Central Pacific as global temperatures rise is likely to boost tropical storm activity in a region largely spared in the past.
Tesla to boost power in Pago Pago
24 Aug 2018
American Samoa is transforming to 100 per cent renewable energy with the help of a Tesla powerpack.
New Caledonia votes to protect coral reef
20 Aug 2018
New Caledonia has agreed to tougher protections around a huge swathe of some of the world’s last near-pristine coral reefs, in a move conservationists hail as a major breakthrough.
Palau plans the fastest-ever shift to renewable energy
20 Jul 2018
Palau plans to stop buying diesel and go 100 per cent solar by the end of 2019 - offering a blueprint for other Pacific nations to do the same.
Spotlight goes on NZ climate aid to Pacific
19 Jul 2018
New Zealand’s support for Pacific countries threatened by climate change will be under the spotlight in Fiji next week.
Islands show little interest in insurance offer
3 Jul 2018
Only a handful of Pafific Islands nations have signed up to an insurance scheme that dispenses rapid payouts in a crisis - a situation experts hope to change.
Majuro tidal graphics made them weep
25 Jun 2018
Striking sea-level rise images have sent shockwaves through the Marshallese community and brought some EU ministers to tears.
Climate will empty islands in just decades, warns report
27 Apr 2018
Low-lying atolls around the world will be overtaken by sea-level rises within a few decades, according to a new study.
Climate change threatens Fiji's survival, says PM
4 Apr 2018
Fiji is in a fight for survival as climate change brings almost constant deadly cyclones, says Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
Changing climate threatens Easter Island's mighty moai
19 Mar 2018
Rising sea levels are eroding Easter Island and its many archaeological sites, including its iconic moai statues and village remains.
NZ and island nations pay climate fee on time
30 Jan 2018
New Zealand and five small states in the area are among the handful of countries that have paid this year’s dues to the United Nations’ climate change work.
Fiji summit calls for action on climate migration
11 Dec 2017
Civil society leaders from more than 100 countries meeting in Suva have called for action on climate-induced displacement.
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine
Thu 26 Jun 2025
How bad can climate damage get? Worse than you imagine, if Australians’ recent experience of more extreme weather and natural disasters — driven by a hotter climate — are an indication, because the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future.
US government cuts key data used in hurricane forecasting
Today 10:30am
Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defense satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting.
Floods swamp cities in Southwest China with more storms due
Thu 26 Jun 2025
Citizens in Guizhou and other parts of southern China have been swamped by days of record-breaking rainfall as the East Asia monsoon kicked into high gear over the past week.
Next EU climate target to allow carbon offsets from 2036, draft shows
Today 10:30am
The European Commission will permit countries to outsource a portion of their climate efforts to poorer countries from 2036, according to a draft proposal.
UK can reach net zero by 2050, climate report finds
Thu 26 Jun 2025
Climate Change Committee says current targets could be met provided country takes ‘steps forward’ to achieve them.
Is Mark Carney turning his back on climate action?
23 Jun 2025
The G7 summit in Alberta, hosted by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has ended with only passing mention of fighting climate change, including a statement on wildfires that is silent on the pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Pakistan slams climate ‘injustice’ as deadly floods hit country again
Today 10:30am
Pakistan’s climate minister says country facing ‘crisis of injustice’ as more deadly flooding and extreme weather events hit the country.
I just returned from Antarctica: climate change isn’t some far-off problem – it’s here and hitting hard
13 May 2025
Antarctica is often viewed as the last truly remote place on Earth – frozen, wild and untouched. But is it really as untouched as it seems?
Congo death toll hits 77 after extreme weather brings floods and sinks boats, 107 remain missing
18 Jun 2025
Authorities in Congo said the death toll following devastating floods and separate boat accidents has reached 77, with more than 100 people missing.
‘We are perilously close to the point of no return’: climate scientist on Amazon rainforest’s future
Today 10:30am
Carlos Nobre, who has fought for decades to save the rainforest, says up to 70% of it could be lost if a tipping point is reached.
How UN climate negotiations can end fossil fuel-industry influence
Today 10:30am
COMMENT: Climate COPs remain alarmingly exposed to lobbyists, unlike most global health and anti-corruption bodies that have safeguards to limit interference.
