Australia is facing fresh pressure to rein in fossil fuel subsidies, with new figures showing just a fraction of that spending could fully fund the shift to clean energy in eight Pacific island countries.
The climate crisis is one of the biggest issues on the agenda at the Pacific Islands Forum’s top political gathering this week, with Vanuatu demanding “radical” action to end the world’s fossil fuel addiction.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, arrived in the Cook Islands on Tuesday local time (Wednesday Australian time) and acknowledged the climate crisis was “certainly felt most acutely in island states”.
In a report published to coincide with the talks, campaigners highlight how Pacific island countries are on the frontline of the climate crisis despite being responsible for just 0.23% of annual global emissions.
By contrast, the world’s 15 largest-emitting nations – led by China, the US and India with Australia in 15th place – are collectively responsible for 71.88% of annual emissions.
The report was commissioned by the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, a group that is campaigning to end new development of fossil fuels and phase out existing production.
Island countries are still heavily dependent on imports of diesel fuel for use in generators, says the report titled Ki Mua: Towards a Just Transition for the Pacific.
It suggests that a mix of utility-scale and decentralised renewables, dominated by solar PV and wind installations, would provide the region with “significant opportunities”.
These gains would include reducing pollution and improving public health while ending reliance on fossil fuel imports. It suggests developed countries like Australia have a responsibility to help.
“In the past year, Australia has handed out $US7bn ($AU11 bn) to the fossil fuel industry,” said Auimatagi Joe Moeono-Kolio, an adviser to the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.
“That’s seven times the amount of money it would take to fund a renewable energy transition for eight Pacific countries.”
The report estimates that across eight Pacific island countries analysed, the upfront cost of replacing all existing fossil fuel electricity generation “ranges from $US691m to just over $US1bn, depending on the specific technology mix”.
The fossil fuel subsidy figure is drawn from analysis by the Australia Institute thinktank, which examined all federal and state government “spending and tax breaks to assist fossil fuel industries” in 2022-23.
The single largest share is the federal government’s fuel tax credit scheme, which gives businesses a tax credit on fuel used in machinery, vehicles over 4.5 tonnes and vehicles not used on public roads.
The Australia Institute argues this tax break “works to make fossil fuel use cheaper for energy-intensive businesses, such as coal mines”. But the mining industry has repeatedly rejected the characterisation of this as a subsidy.
Moeono-Kolio said if Australia wanted to host the 2026 UN climate conference in partnership with the region, “then the first step is to start caring for Pacific peoples and stand with us instead of blocking the Pacific’s efforts as it has done for decades”.
Vanuatu’s climate minister, Ralph Regenvanu, called for a “sustained, radical” phase out of fossil fuels because the world had run out of time for “slow and steady” action.
Tuvalu’s finance and climate minister, Seve Paeniu, added: “It is high time for wealthy, fossil fuel producing countries that are largely responsible for the climate emergency to take the lead in phasing out fossil fuels, and support our countries in the shift towards renewable energy.”
Albanese met three leaders on his first day on the island of Rarotonga, including the prime minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, who described himself as “the leader of a country that is going to be under the water” if current trends continued.
Albanese promised to work with Natano and argued his Labor government was elected last year “with a platform of taking action on climate change”.
Natano was later asked by reporters how he felt about Australia approving more coal and gas projects.
“Well, it’s an issue that we are working with Australia to see that we can get them to assist because fossil fuel is the main contributor to global warming,” Natano said.
