Pacific Island nations have been leading the call for an international treaty to phase out fossil fuels, ahead of this week’s COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.
The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (FFNPTI) calls for an end to fossil fuel expansion and for a phase-out of current production in line with the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement.
It also outlines a roadmap to support nations to transition to renewable energy sources.
The world has used similar treaties to mitigate the dangers of nuclear weapons, landmines and ozone layer-destroying chemicals.
The proposed treaty has three pillars: non-proliferation; a fair phase out; and a just transition.
Moving away from fossil fuels, or non-proliferation, will ensure all new coal, oil and gas developments are halted. The fair phase-out pillar highlights out the need for an equitable plan to wind down fossil fuel production. It states that wealthier nations with the capacity and resources should move away the fastest, while also supporting countries with fewer resources with their own transitions.
The final pillar — just transition — outlines the importance of fast tracking the development of clean energy, while leaving no worker, community or country behind.
Climate change was a priority issue at October’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and leaders of the group’s Pacific Island nations used the opportunity to call on states to endorse the treaty.
Just under half of the Commonwealth’s nations are small island states, likely to bear the most severe impacts of climate change, a problem they did little to create.
The FFNPTI has released a new report titled Uncommon Wealth: Fossil Fuel Expansion in the Commonwealth. It found that the group’s three wealthiest members — Britain, Australia and Canada (the “big three”) — have not only historically accounted for the majority of emissions, but continue to dominate current and planned production of fossil fuels.
Collectively, they are responsible for 60% of the Commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions, even though they represent just 6% of the total population.
Death sentence
At a media conference during the CHOGM for the report’s release, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo said that planned fossil fuel expansion in these wealthy nations represented a “death sentence” for his country.
FFTNPTI president Kumi Naidoo said: “Australia, Canada and the UK are quick to claim to be climate leaders, yet they refuse to curb their own fossil fuel expansion while leaving poorer nations to foot the bill for the crisis.
“Our Uncommon Wealth report shows that these three countries have historically benefited the most from fossil fuels. They owe it to the rest of the Commonwealth to support and finance a fast and fair transition away from coal, oil and gas.”
The proposed treaty has been endorsed by 14 governments so far: Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Palau, Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Niue, Colombia, Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Colombia is the first Latin American country and only non-island nation to join the initiative. It is also the largest producer of coal and gas of the group.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said as he announced his country’s endorsement: “It is a paradox that, at this table, together with populations that could disappear, there is a country like us, which also depends on oil, and which is committed to endorsing a treaty that implies zero new exploration projects in the world.
“My own society would say, ‘How would the President produce such economic suicide?’, given that we depend on oil and coal. But this is not economic suicide. We are talking here about an ‘omnicide’, the risk of extinction of life on the planet.
“Today we face an immense confrontation between fossil capital and human life. And we must choose a side. Any human being knows that we must choose life. I have no doubt which position to take; between fossil capital and life, we choose the side of life.”
COP28
At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai last year, nearly 200 countries agreed to a deal that, for the first time, called on nations to transition away from fossil fuels.
The United Nations hailed the agreement as “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era. UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said in his closing speech: “Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end. Now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.”
However, the deal was criticised for not explicitly committing countries to phase out fossil fuels, or even provide a timeline for doing so.
Less than a year later, it has become clearer that many governments are failing to adhere to the decisions made in Dubai.
There has been a surge of new oil and gas projects, starting in the world’s wealthiest countries this year, in spite of their climate commitments. While globally they are often portrayed as climate leaders, the Commonwealth “big three” are part of a cohort of five wealthy countries (along with the United States and Norway) who are responsible for more than two-thirds (67%) of all new oil and gas licences issued since 2020.
Uncommon Wealth found that Australia’s fossil fuel extraction forecasts show continued expansion in the coal and gas sectors.
As of last year, 69 coal projects and 49 new oil and gas projects were under consideration for development and the country’s fossil fuel exports are currently second only to Russia.
COP29
COP29 kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan, on November 11, with a focus on climate finance.
The talks aim to ensure the world’s wealthier countries provide sufficient funding to developing countries to assist in their clean energy transitions and climate resilience.
The UN’s annual summit faces persistent criticism about its inability to ensure that large emitting countries take meaningful action. This is underscored by the fact that many of these countries’ leaders are choosing to skip this year’s event: the US, Russia, Canada, India, China, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, France and Australia will not attend.
This is not lost on the small island nations, which are bearing the brunt of climate change.
Papua New Guinea announced during the CHOGM that it would be pulling out of this year’s event too, with foreign affairs minister Justin Tckatchenko describing it as a “total waste of time”, full of “empty talk”.
“Papua New Guinea is making this stand for the benefit of all small island nations. We will no longer tolerate empty promises and inaction, while our people suffer the devastating consequences of climate change.”
The host of the 2026 COP31 summit will be announced in Baku. Australia has been urging Pacific Islands leaders to support a joint bid for South Australia, vying with Türkiye for the annual event.
However, Australia has been criticised by Pacific nations for not aligning its actions with its rhetoric.
Tuvalu’s Teo highlighted this inconsistency at the CHOGM. “The current Australian government has committed to net zero by 2050 … the actions and activity [included] in the [Uncommon Wealth] report launched are obviously not consistent with the broader spirit of achieving that objective.”
Uncommon Wealth concludes by calling on the “big three” to “display a commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement and seek a safe and liveable future for the nations … that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, in particular the Commonwealth’s small states.”
By endorsing the treaty initiative, Australia would demonstrate to the Pacific Islands that it is serious about ensuring their survival. In Petro’s words, Australia must “choose the side of life”.