Fiji’s deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad has issued a clear mandate to the nation’s COP29 delegation – fight for climate finance and recognition of the Pacific’s special circumstances at the upcoming global summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Addressing ministers, senior officials, and support teams in Suva Friday ahead of the conference, Prasad emphasised the uphill battle ahead and stressed the need for immediate, substantial climate finance to safeguard Fiji’s future.
“We are heading into an immense challenge,” Prasad said during the delegation’s send-off event. “The Pacific Island countries have made it clear: the new collective climate finance goal must be evidence-based, and it must reflect the real scale of the crisis we face.”
COP29, set to begin in less than three weeks, is shaping up to be one of the most critical climate negotiations for Fiji and other Pacific Island nations. At the heart of the talks is the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance—a framework to determine how much funding should be allocated globally to help developing countries manage the climate crisis.
For Prasad and the Fiji delegation, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
“We need more than 10 times the climate finance that’s available today—at its floor, at its minimum,” Prasad said. “We have over 200 sea walls to build, 40 villages that need relocation, and 100,000 hectares of farmland that need protection from saltwater intrusion,” he said.
Fiji’s list of urgent climate adaptation needs is extensive and growing. In addition to building resilience in its health centres and protecting vulnerable infrastructure, the country faces long-term damage to its schools, airports, and jetties, all of which are essential to the nation’s survival.
“The reality is that we cannot keep up with the growing impacts of climate change on our own,” Prasad said. “We have 80,000 Fijian children who still don’t have electricity at home to do their homework or even read at night. We need off-grid renewable energy solutions now.”
The Fiji government has been pushing for the NCQG to include a specific minimum allocation for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
Prasad made it clear that without this, the global financial response would be insufficient.
“Securing a minimum allocation floor for SIDS is not a propositional ask—it is a pre-requisite. This is about our survival.”
Prasad acknowledged that Fiji’s demands face stiff opposition in the complex world of international climate negotiations.
He noted that while many countries support the Pacific’s call for increased funding, there are others who continue to resist.
“There remains major divergence between parties on the scope and scale of this collective goal,” he said. “But we cannot afford to let geopolitics distract us from the real issue—climate change is the existential threat that defines our time.”
At the heart of the negotiations is the battle between developed and developing countries over how much each should contribute to the fight against climate change. While many Pacific nations are on the front lines of climate impacts, wealthier nations have been slow to commit the necessary resources.
Prasad emphasised that the NCQG is not just about numbers—it’s about the very future of the Pacific.
“The ambition set through this goal is a direct proxy for the ambition to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. And for us, 1.5 degrees is the red line.”
As head of the Fiji delegation, Prasad has spent months working with other Pacific Island leaders to build a strong and united front for COP29. He praised the work of Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change, Dr Sivendra Michael, who has led the technical preparations for the talks, and he thanked the Cabinet for approving Fiji’s official positions for the negotiations.
“Our approach is clear, our objectives are set,” Prasad said. “We need to emerge from COP29 with our priorities intact and our hope for the future reinforced. This is about protecting our people and ensuring that we can adapt to the challenges that lie ahead.”
Part of Fiji’s strategy will involve pushing for stronger commitments from other countries to transition away from fossil fuels.
Prasad noted the irony of Azerbaijan, one of the world’s most oil-dependent nations, hosting COP29, but he said this only highlighted the need for bold diplomacy.
“Azerbaijan’s prosperity has been built on fossil fuels, but fossil fuels are not part of the future we want to live in,” Prasad said.
“As hosts of COP29, they may not see the world the way we do here in the Pacific. But that’s the beauty of international diplomacy—countries with vastly different perspectives can still come together to reach agreement.”
COP29 is not just a negotiation—it’s a crossroads, Prasad argued. “This is not a milestone COP by mandate, but it is a foundational COP. The decisions made here will define the level of ambition and the means of implementation for decades to come,” he said.
For Pacific Island nations, which have long been on the frontlines of climate change, the stakes at COP29 couldn’t be higher. Prasad recalled the Pacific’s key role in securing the inclusion of the 1.5-degree target in the Paris Agreement and the region’s 30-year fight for global recognition of loss and damage.
“The Pacific has always been a moral voice at the UNFCCC,” Prasad said. “We represent urgency and ethics, and we will continue to push for what is right. We will not rest until the world is on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.”
Prasad also reflected on the recent Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Tonga and the UN General Assembly in New York, where climate change dominated discussions. He said the same urgency and unity displayed in those meetings would guide Fiji’s actions in Baku.
“We need to ensure that the escalating impacts of climate change, the massive financing gap, and the downstream effects on sustainable development and security are front and centre in these negotiations,” he said. “We owe it to our children and grandchildren to get this right. They will not forgive us if we lose our grip on the only path to a livable future.”
“We have an opportunity before us—an opportunity that we cannot afford to let fall prey to current geopolitics. This is about survival, not just for Fiji, but for the entire Pacific.”
The deputy PM stressed that Fiji’s delegation will not only represent the country but also its brothers and sisters in Tuvalu, Kiribati, and across the region.
“We owe this to the families across the Pacific islands who are depending on us to deliver.”
With that, the Fiji COP29 delegation, armed with clear objectives and a spirit of unity, will head to Baku determined to make the Pacific voice heard on the global stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the weight we carry through our participation in COP29,” Prasad concluded. “We will not rest until we secure the outcomes our people deserve.”
COP29 will be held in Baku from 12 – 23 November 2024.
