{"id":662889,"date":"2022-05-19T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=570512"},"modified":"2022-05-19T22:30:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-19T22:30:00","slug":"pacific-island-nations-want-more-renewable-power-climate-financing-may-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/05\/19\/pacific-island-nations-want-more-renewable-power-climate-financing-may-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Island nations want more renewable power. Climate financing may help."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story is reprinted<\/a> with permission from Honolulu Civil Beat.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, a remote island in the Federated States of Micronesia switched on its lights for the first time since before World War II, bringing electricity to 500 households by burning waste from its new coconut-processing facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a country where only one in three people has consistent energy access<\/a>, electrifying Tonoas marked a step toward delivering power to every Micronesian household by 2027, which means reaching the 17 percent of the country still without it. And by 2024, half of that energy is set to be renewable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move in FSM represents one of several being taken throughout the Pacific to not only transition to more sustainable power generation but also remove their reliance on imported fossil fuels. The transition is a difficult and costly task for many Pacific nations due to their physical and economic size, geographic isolation and disparate islands \u2014 all of which influence their ability to finance climate action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile the countries face the most acute symptoms of climate change: sea level rise, intense seasonal weather events, agricultural failures, and a loss of fisheries and coral reefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at the heart of the countries\u2019 vulnerability is their reliance on imported fossil fuels, according to Zena Grecni of the Pacific Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments<\/a> program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That reliance brings high costs for the residents for electricity and transportation because of oil price fluctuations, she said. But if climate financing were more available, that would not be the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have such abundant renewable energy resources \u2014 solar, wind, hydro, geothermal,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have it all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacific states and territories have long known the economic and environmental promise of renewable energy. In 2012, nine Pacific countries signed the Barbados Declaration,<\/a> committing to transition away from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The countries have since advocated for industrialized nations such as China and the United States to make good on promises made in United Nations climate conferences<\/a>, emphasizing the urgency required to keep the world\u2019s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the Pacific\u2019s advocacy at the recent climate conference in Glasgow, COP26<\/a>, was ensuring there was assistance to secure the financing needed to transition towards renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though some nations have secured funding through large financial institutions such as the World Bank and Asia Development Bank, as well as through foreign aid, their diminutive size and perceived low returns on investment for investors still stifles their need, according to Akuila Tawake of The Pacific Community, a development and scientific advisory organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tawake, deputy director of the group\u2019s geothermal and energy program, says the traditional model of climate financing is tailored to larger economies and less expensive projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s a little hard to secure grants from these climate financing institutions, because they prefer to have blended finance,\u201d Tawake said. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. recently signed the Moana Pledge<\/a>, following the Our Ocean conference<\/a> in April, vowing to transition his country to 100 percent renewable energy by 2032.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Administered by Maui-based Mana Pacific<\/a>, the agreement is dubbed a pledge but also acts as a mechanism to give Pacific nations greater access to renewable energy infrastructure, through collective buying power and resource sharing \u2014 effectively making the countries more attractive to funders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mana Pacific CEO Joe Reed says the agreement levels the playing field to ensure that contractors within the pledge agreement fulfill 13 tenets, such as local job creation and training or recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at its core, it addresses funders\u2019 concerns over investment returns, as well as the price of renewable energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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