Pacific Islands Forum: Australia under pressure to rein in fossil fuel subsidies

Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP. Retrieved from theguardian.com

Australia is facing fresh pressure to rein in fossil fuel subsidies, with new figures showing just a fraction of that spending could fully fund the shift to clean energy in eight Pacific island countries.

The climate crisis is one of the biggest issues on the agenda at the Pacific Islands Forum’s top political gathering this week, with Vanuatu demanding “radical” action to end the world’s fossil fuel addiction.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, arrived in the Cook Islands on Tuesday local time (Wednesday Australian time) and acknowledged the climate crisis was “certainly felt most acutely in island states”.

In a report published to coincide with the talks, campaigners highlight how Pacific island countries are on the frontline of the climate crisis despite being responsible for just 0.23% of annual global emissions.