The Kingdom of Tonga has expressed strong support for Australia’s bid to host the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2026, saying it will be known as a Pacific COP.
Tonga’s Prime Minister Hon Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni offered his support in his address to world leaders during the high-level segment of COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan this week.
Australia is vying with Turkey to host COP31, and a decision is expected to be announced soon, possibly at the end of the two-week meeting in Baku.
“Tonga fully supports the bid from Australia to host COP31, as it will be known as the Pacific COP,” Prime Minister Sovaleni says.
Australia has been a strong supporter of Pacific countries’ efforts to fight climate change and keep the 1.5 to stay alive campaign.
Two years ago, Australia’s Climate Change Minister Hon Chris Bowen announced a joint Australia-Pacific bid to host COP31 in 2026.
COPs are hosted in a different country each year, organised within the five regional groupings of the United Nations: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Western Europe and others.
In 2023, COP28 was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on behalf of the Asia Group.
Azerbaijan is hosting COP29 on behalf of the Eastern Europe grouping with Brazil, on behalf of Latin America and the Caribbean Group, to host COP30 in 2025.
The COP meetings are critical to address climate change, an issue identified as the most existential threat Pacific communities, placed at the forefront of climate change impacts, face.
In Baku, Prime Minister Sovaleni has expressed hope COP29 will foster genuine partnerships and collaboration among all parties.
“We must honour our respective responsibilities,” he says.
Speaking on the same stage at Nizami Hall on Monday, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Jim Skea cautioned that with every fraction of a degree of global warming, we face greater threats.
“Many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods – and their lives,” he says.
“The extremes we are witnessing have been aggravated by human-induced climate change.
“This is the new normal…imagine what is in store in the coming decades, if we do not act swiftly and decisively.
“Children born today will not know a world without climate change.”
Prime Minister Sovaleni has referred to the IPCC reports, and national climate assessments, which he says underscore the fact climate change is and will continue to be the most existential threat to Pacific Island nations.
In Tonga, it is already a “lived reality,” he adds.
“Tonga witnesses a concerning increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones over the past decade.
“We lived through three Category 5 systems in 2014, 2018, and 2020.
“Our sea levels have risen at an alarming rate of 7.3mm per year – this surpasses by far the global average.
“In turn, this has led to severe coastal erosion, frequent flooding, and the loss of crucial infrastructure.
“The incursion of saltwater into land has damaged groundwater quality, rising ocean temperatures have caused widespread coral bleaching and a decline in marine biodiversity.”
In the lead up to COP29, the NDC Synthesis Report and the UNEP Emissions Gap Report showed the world is not on track to meet the Paris Climate Goal and keep the 1.5-degree temperature limit within reach.
“We must accelerate the phase-down of unabated coal use and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.
“Tonga has a negligible contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, but we are steadfast in our commitment to implementing the necessary climate actions and targets.”
The Kingdom of Tonga also highlighted the importance of timely and accessible climate finance for SIDS, calling on developed countries to fulfil their long-standing commitment to mobilise $100 billion annually.
“We welcome the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund at COP27 and emphasise the urgent need to operationalise this fund.
“We call upon the Green Climate Fund to recognise the robust procedures of multinational organisations and encourage innovative approaches and partnerships, such as the ‘Save the Children’ initiative, in which Tonga is a pilot country.”
As the Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIFS), Prime Minister Sovaleni highlights the Unlocking the Blue Pacific Prosperity Initiative and the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), which exists to provide timely, predictable, and scaled up access to climate finance for Pacific communities.
“We urge global partners to continue their support for these two crucial regional facilities.”
At COP29, Tonga and Pacific delegations are raising their voice to advocate the Pacific’s positions and messaging on priority thematic areas including Finance (NCQG), Mitigation, Just Transition, Adaptation, Finance, Article 6, Oceans and Climate Change, Loss and Damage, Global Stocktake (GST) and Gender and Social Inclusion.
The two-week negotiations is the latest crucial step in tackling the climate crisis with urgency and ambition.