Climate change threatens the Pacific and Pacific Islanders’ way of life. Rising sea levels, stronger storms, and record ocean warming are damaging land, freshwater, and cultural heritage. These pressures are intensifying: the World Meteorological Organization found that 2024 was the warmest year on record in the South-West Pacific, with record ocean temperatures and sea-level rise running faster than the global average Shifts in temperature and rainfall harm agriculture, food security, and livelihoods, while saltwater intrusion reduces drinking water and affects health. Ocean acidification damages marine ecosystems, and displacement and livelihood loss are growing more severe.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
Sea-surface temperatures hit record highs and marine heatwaves affected nearly 40 million km² of ocean – more than 10% of the global ocean surface and about five times the size of Australia. Sea-level rise in the region has run faster than the global average over recent decades, an existential threat for low-lying atoll nations where most people live near the coast.
Pacific Island Countries (PICs) such as Fiji, Vanuatu and Tuvalu are highly vulnerable to climate change despite contributing under 0.03% of global emissions, giving them a strong claim for global accountability. Their economies rely on climate‑sensitive sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries and tourism, while inequality, debt, and weak governance deepen risks.
Governance challenges include low political representation, and insufficient investment in climate mainstreaming while limited access to new land, and inadequate government support undermine the rights of displaced Indigenous peoples, and the participation of women, youth, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ individuals and Indigenous communities. Fragmented social protection amplifies risks in rural, remote and outer-island communities, and leaves marginalized groups – especially women – most exposed and least supported.
Though impacts are severe, causes lie largely outside the region, making climate not only an environmental and economic issue but a profound matter of justice, sovereignty, and human rights. Pacific advocacy calls for the right to life, land, culture and self-determination, the need for loss-and-damage compensation, protection of rights and future generations. A4CJ works to support resilience, inclusion, and stronger Pacific voices in policy.
The Pacific region is a global moral force in the climate movement. Pacific leaders, civil society and Indigenous Peoples have long championed climate justice grounded in Indigenous knowledge, intergenerational justice and custodianship of the ocean. Recent successes underscore this leadership and the power of Pacific diplomacy and civil society mobilization.
ICJ ADVISORY OPINION
On 23 July 2025 the International Court of Justice issued its first-ever advisory opinion on climate change, finding unanimously that states have binding obligations under international law to protect the climate and that failing to act can be an “internationally wrongful act”. The case grew from a campaign begun by Pacific Island law students and taken up by Vanuatu – and is reshaping climate accountability worldwide.
COP31
A major opportunity for the region centres on COP31 which will be cohosted by Australia and Türkiye. While Türkiye will host COP31 in Antalya in November 2026 and holds the presidency, Australia will serve as President of Negotiations. Australia and the Pacific will host a special Pre-COP in the region, and a COP31 session will spotlight Small Island Developing States’ finance needs and the Pacific Resilience Facility.
There is an urgent opportunity to amplify these efforts so that the most vulnerable communities can withstand climate impacts, improve their wellbeing, and hold duty bearers accountable.
CLIMATE MOBILITY
The Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union entered into force in August 2024, recognising Tuvalu’s continuing statehood despite sea-level rise and opening a permanent migration pathway of up to 280 people a year. When the first ballot opened in mid-2025, roughly four in five Tuvaluans registered a stark measure of how climate displacement is already reshaping Pacific lives.
Act for Climate Justice works as a convenor, broker and facilitator bringing together women’s rights groups, Indigenous and youth networks, and governments to address climate change. Key partners include national climate networks (PICAN, SICAN, KiriCAN, VCAN, TUCAN), women’s and LGBTQIA+ organizations, and youth and Indigenous groups. The focus is on shifting power, supporting diverse leadership, and advancing partners’ own climate-justice goals.
Partners drive policy change – for example, SICAN influenced climate-sensitive agriculture provisions in Solomon Islands’ 2023 budget. By linking local action to global advocacy, A4CJ strengthens regional collaboration and supports a more unified Pacific climate-justice movement from the ground up.
Pacific nations receive limited, hard-to-access climate finance, often shaped by donor priorities, leaving local communities underfunded despite being best placed to act. Capacity gaps and legal challenges further restrict access, though new mechanisms like the Loss and Damage Fund and Pacific Resilience Facility offer emerging opportunities.
Our climate-finance work provides direct grants, builds partners’ capacity to access finance, holds decision-makers accountable, and supports evidence-based advocacy. It prioritises direct, gender-just funding, greater transparency, and inclusive policies, while helping partners overcome barriers e.g technical-capacity gaps or legal-registration challenges to funding access.
In Australia, Oxfam is helping shape a Make Big Polluters Pay Alliance pushing for a levy on fossil-fuel companies and a compensation fund for affected communities in the Pacific and beyond.
Pacific Island countries are tackling escalating climate impacts on land, livelihoods, and food and water security. Act for Climate Justice supports a collaborative, locally led response by partnering with climate networks, building advocacy skills, and helping influence government and private-sector action.
Programmes uphold locally led adaptation, building resilience while promoting equity, inclusion and traditional knowledge. They focus on resilient agriculture, water security, and strengthening partner organisations to address inequalities. Examples include a climate-resilient seed bank and development of bylaws ensuring water access points for women-headed households in the Solomon Islands, and a “cash plus” cyclone recovery model in Vanuatu. A4CJ also promotes inclusive adaptation planning and stronger links between adaptation and social protection, especially for women, youth, and rural communities.
Most Pacific island countries rely heavily on imported fossil fuels, weakening energy security and economic resilience. A just transition requires shifting to community-owned renewable energy, especially in remote areas, and pushing historically responsible wealthy countries in the region like Australia and New Zealand to provide more grant-based funding for renewable-energy access, including direct support for community-owned projects and end fossil-fuel financing.
Across the region we support community-led renewable solutions, including a women-led solar initiative in Vanuatu and dialogues with feminist economists, community elders and engineers on community-owned energy models in Fiji. Our advocacy focuses on ending fossil-fuel subsidies and expanding support for equitable, locally managed clean energy that enhances both gender equity and energy access.