Excerpt and Photo Credit: lowyinstitute.org
In the lead-up to COP31 this year, global climate diplomacy faces a credibility test – and it is unfolding in the Pacific.
Across much of the world, fossil fuel concerns have reasserted themselves. Rising energy costs, security anxieties, and domestic pressures are reshaping national priorities particularly in the context of global energy volatility linked to geopolitical fragmentation and oil market shocks.
In recent weeks, climate leadership risks have been framed as conditional – something to be advanced when circumstances allow – raising deeper questions of climate justice. In this context, climate leadership is not judged by ambition alone, but by whether commitments hold under pressure.