Australia will serve as the President of the COP Negotiations with a pre-COP meeting in Fiji. With this role, the Australian officials hope to hasten the transition towards clean energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels worldwide and put the Pacific region countries at the heart of global climate action.
Every year, world leaders get together to deliberate on the most serious emergency the planet is collectively facing – the climate crisis. While many critics are questioning the utility of these annual summits, the need for global consensus is undeniable. Most countries are actively participating and pledging to increase climate investments at the domestic and international levels.
Despite its unsuccessful bid to host the COP31 Summit, Australia, which made way for Turkiye, has confirmed that both Canberra and Istanbul will work closely together to ensure the summit is a resounding success.
Australia will serve as the President of the COP Negotiations with a pre-COP meeting in Fiji. With this role, the Australian officials hope to hasten the transition towards clean energy and reduce the use of fossil fuels worldwide and put the Pacific region countries at the heart of global climate action. With the pre-COP meeting being held in Fiji, global leaders can see first-hand the pressures Pacific islanders are facing, as sea levels rise rapidly, coastlines erode, and storms intensify.
Climate researchers hope that the pre-COP meeting and the COP31 Summit will take up matters that are of interest to climate-vulnerable countries. However, there are certain issues like the need for increased climate finance, commitment to reduce crude consumption, thereby also reducing emissions, which will also need to be treated with equal urgency. Ocean governance has largely remained absent from COP discussions, despite rising sea levels ranking highly among climate adversities. This issue is likely to figure more prominently in this year’s discussions as, under Australia’s leadership, along with support from other Pacific countries, problems closer to home are bound to be spotlighted.
The 2023 Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty, which is the first international agreement recognising continuity of statehood alongside pathways for climate migration, can serve as a predecessor to more such treaties. The Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) Environmental Management Program (EMP) is yet another initiative to protect biodiversity and ecosystem structure and function across the region.
The CCZ is home to large deposits of critical minerals such as manganese, nickel, copper and cobalt. Therefore, while commercial interest in the zone has been persisting for years now, allowing deep-sea mining in this region can cause serious ill effects to the benthic fauna, whose distribution and diversity are still poorly understood.
The Pacific Islands, particularly US Pacific Territories like the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, are raising an alarm that their biodiversity will be gravely affected if deep-sea mining projects are approved in this region. Concerns have elevated since US President Trump announced his intentions to secure critical minerals such as nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese from the seabed. Deep-sea mining in the region will permanently alter the marine ecosystems of the islands of Northern Marianas, Guam and American Samoa, among others.
As the Pacific region is one of the most vulnerable to climate crises, the need for climate finance to be redirected towards projects in these countries should be a top priority among the international community. However, instead of waiting any longer for outside assistance, the countries in this region have banded together to form the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF).
After years of trying to access climate finance, the PRF, which took a decade to complete, was signed and ratified by the involved countries in 2025. This Pacific-led fund will be dedicated to improving community resilience in the region. There is also speculation that some of the funding earmarked for COP31 could be directed towards the PRF.
There are also initiatives such as the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), which has a dedicated climate window known as the Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership, which offers grants and loans to build and develop green infrastructure.
The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) or the ‘High Seas Treaty’ also came into effect this January, having been signed in 2023. The BBNJ aims to protect marine life in international waters, which covers two-thirds of the ocean. It is part of the legal framework under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS).
With marine life and marine ecosystems heavily influencing the agenda for COP31, climate researchers and policy analysts are hopeful that the member nations will work towards directing climate funding towards building climate resilience and sustainable infrastructure across the Pacific region.
Ultimately, COP31 signifies a significant change toward climate policy that is maritime-focused. The meeting could start a real conversation around concrete dangers like deep-sea mining and sea level rise by making the Pacific region countries centre stage. Regionally financed climate funds like PRF and the adoption of the BBNJ Treaty, which can also help advance the climate goals of the Pacific.
The emphasis must continue to be on making sure that global climate funds are actively allocated to the development of sustainable infrastructure rather than merely pledged, as Australia leads this effort. The international community can only safeguard the world’s most vulnerable populations and ecosystems by such coordinated ocean governance.
