Australia to invest $125m in Pacific island off-grid and community scale renewables

The Australian government is partnering with Pacific nations to improve their energy security with a $125 million investment in renewables.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said investment in energy grid transition to renewable sources was an opportunity to restore Australia’s climate leadership.

“Supporting Pacific nations’ transition to renewable energy and away from imported fossil fuels will enhance economic resilience, improve energy security and help them meet their climate goals,” she said.

The funding, which comprises a $75 million investment through the REnew Pacific program and $50 million through the Australia-Pacific Partnership for Energy Transition, was announced at the COP29 United Nations climate summit.

The REnew Pacific program will help deliver off-grid and community-scale renewable energy in remote and rural parts of the Pacific, enabling lighting, access to water, improved agriculture, better food security, quality education and health services, reliable communications connectivity and enhanced incomes.

The $50 million Partnership for Energy Transition funding will capture renewable energy investment benefits such as energy transition modelling, grid studies, feasibility studies and university collaborations.

The investment is the latest in a rollout of climate action funding announced by the Albanese government in the past week.

Senator Wong launched a new $126 million climate program on Friday to spur climate action in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions.

A finance facility was also revealed on Wednesday to support the bank in rolling out up to $US11 billion ($A17 billion) in climate-related loans and potentially unlock private capital.

The announcements coincided with calls from developing economies, including Australia’s cash-strapped Pacific neighbours, to draw a line under climate support being tied to taking on more debt.

Developing countries will require $US1.3 trillion ($A2 trillion) annually by the 2030s to meet climate needs, according to a report released at COP29 by climate finance experts.

Clarity on finance could mean developing countries lodge ambitious national climate plans in 2025, or dial back. 

Details of Australia’s national contribution are also due, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yet to promise to release them before the next federal election.

Asked on Saturday whether he would commit to setting a 2035 climate target before the election, due by May 2025, Mr Albanese avoided answering.

“We’re committing to our 2030 target – it’s legislated,” he said.

Mr Albanese said “2030 comes before 2035 and we’re very focused on delivering and we’re on track to delivering that target”.

Australia’s Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, who arrived in Baku for COP29 via Turkey, is set to co-chair negotiations in the final week of the summit that will determine a new collective climate finance goal.

Turkey and the Australian state of South Australia are bidding to host COP31.

“Australia is working with the Pacific on a joint bid to host COP31,” a government spokesperson told AAP.

“There’s a process under way and we respect that process so we won’t pre-empt it.”

AAP