PINA

The main UN multilateral climate funds – the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) – could be set for a funding boost from the COP29 finance talks. The latest text on the New Collective Quantified Finance Goal (NCQG), which is due to be agreed in Baku, says that governments...

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr has announced plans to retain his current cabinet ministers in his upcoming administration, with Vice President-elect Raynold “Arnold” Oilouch slated to lead the Ministry of Justice. The announcement was made at a recent press conference, confirming continuity in key government positions. Whipps affirmed that Oilouch, as Vice President-elect, will also serve as the Minister of Justice. Under...

From the floods that have swept through Spain to typhoons battering the Philippines, extreme weather is hitting the world hard – but even after years of warnings about the need to adapt to the perils of a hotter world, vulnerable countries and communities are unlikely to get much immediate help from the COP29 climate summit, officials told Climate Home. There’s...

While Vanuatu and Fiji's first-ever foreign policy documents reveal their non-aligned positions, the papers give both countries credibility amid competition by major geopolitical powers, such as China and the United States, for influence in the Pacific region. Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka launched his government's Foreign Policy White Paper and said it would help the country deal with "complex foreign...

COP29 as a ‘finance COP’ must recognise the challenges faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to access climate finance due to their small economies, limited resources, and geographic remoteness. Samoa, as the Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), issued the rallying call during the Leaders' Summit of SIDS on Climate Change held in Baku, Azerbaijan, where...

Pacific governments at a UN climate summit are criticising Australia’s plans for a massive gas industry expansion in Western Australia, saying it could result in 125 times more greenhouse gas emissions than their island nations release in a year. As the Cop29 summit in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku begins its second week, representatives from Vanuatu and Tuvalu have called...

Last week, over 40 000 delegates – including world leaders, United Nations (UN) officials, climate experts, journalists, representatives from non-governmental organisations and youth advocates – have gathered at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. Together, they are evaluating progress and tackling urgent climate challenges projected to cause 14.5...

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has reiterated the importance of the Paris Agreement and climate finance for developing countries to world leaders present at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, COP29. Brown has called on world leaders to do the right thing by the Pacific countries, don’t make them jump...

Fiji has called for greater integration of ocean themes across this year’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Speaking at the Pacific Climate Champions High-Level Panel Event on the sidelines of the COP29, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Hon. Biman Prasad said that like other small island nations in the Pacific, Fiji faces direct threats from climate change through rising...

France has delayed elections in New Caledonia to enable negotiations on a new political statute. But what happens if a deal can’t be struck? By Nic Maclellan After six months of conflict, the French parliament has voted to delay New Caledonia’s scheduled provincial and national elections until late 2025. The New Caledonian government, currently led by President Louis Mapou, will remain...