The Carbon Market Institute expressed disappointment that the Pacific missed out on hosting COP31 in Australia and the Pacific, but is looking forward to Australia playing a significant role in setting the Action Agenda and leading the high-level negotiations.
“Congratulations to Türkiye for securing their bid to host the global UN climate talks in 2026. Whilst we are disappointed to not have the opportunity to bring the international community to the Pacific, we remain optimistic that Australia will have a leading role with Minister Bowen assuming a leadership role said Dr. Sasha Courville, CEO, CMI.
Over the next 12 months, Australia’s role enables it to assume leadership of negotiations and presents an opportunity to set an ambitious political package and climate action agenda.
Once the proposed arrangements are formally approved, it will also be important that Australia’s leadership role capitalises on international goodwill to advance the Global Stocktake commitments and its 5-year work plan, including progress on priorities and roadmaps underway at COP30.
COP30 in Belem has seen the largest Indigenous participation in the history of the conference, hosted on Indigenous lands and territories of the Amazonian people, reflecting the Troika of Indigenous Peoples, launched at COP29 and mirroring the COP Presidencies’ Troika.
“With this compromise between Australia and Türkiye, we cannot forget the hugely significant contribution of the Pacific to climate action. Pacific islands, along with other small island nations, played a key role in ensuring the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees was included in the Paris Agreement,” concluded Courville.
More than US$9 trillion a year is likely to be required by 2030 to fight climate change. Loss and Damage and adaptation finance are of particular focus to the Pacific region, and it will be critical that COP31 addresses the urgent and growing needs of vulnerable communities in developing countries facing the impacts of climate change.
The Asia-Pacific region continues to demonstrate strong leadership towards greater ambition and cooperation on market-based climate policies, including deepening cooperation on carbon markets and clean energy supply chains and even extending to a proposal to establish a regional-level CBAM.
Nature and biodiversity outcomes are central to the COP agenda, highlighting the dual crises of climate and biodiversity alongside the impact of climate change on natural ecosystems and cultural heritage. Working with the Pacific, there is a unique opportunity to secure a defining moment for nature and communities, converging Global Biodiversity Framework and Paris Agreement objectives.
Although the partnership model proposed for COP31 is unprecedented, it was chosen by Australia as a better option than the default of reverting to Bonn, which would have meant that there wouldn’t have been a special role carved out for the Pacific.