As the world prepares to cross the critical 1.5°C warming limit, Australia must show real Pacific leadership on climate
2 September 2026
Community Strong MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender have urged Australia to deliver for our regional neighbours at the Pacific Islands Forum, as an alarming new UN report warns the world is likely to soon cross the critical 1.5°C warming limit.
The United Nations Environment Programme report Limiting Overshoot, just released, says global warming is likely to pass the vital threshold above pre-industrial levels within the next few years.
The UN makes clear that the temperature goal should not be abandoned. It has called on nations to urgently minimise any overshoot and work to return temperatures to 1.5°C by the end of the century.
There is no safe climate beyond 1.5°C – in Australia or elsewhere. For Pacific nations, it means land lost to rising seas and the collapse of vital food systems, and the loss of homes, livelihoods, cultural practices and economies.
Pacific Island leaders have consistently warned climate change is the single biggest threat to the region’s security. At the Pacific Islands Forum in Palau, attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Australia should heed the calls of our Pacific neighbours and:
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Get the Pacific Resilience Facility funded and operational: The fund aims to help lower climate and disaster risks, particularly for vulnerable people, through community-scale projects. Pacific leaders are seeking to build its capitalisation towards US$500 million initial target.
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Take a strong, united Pacific position into COP31: The 2026 PIF is important to coordinating Pacific climate priorities ahead of COP31. Pacific priorities include protecting the 1.5°C limit, strengthening climate finance, advancing loss and damage and supporting communities facing existential risks.
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Help the Pacific get to 100% renewables: Commit to working with Pacific nations to help make it the world’s first 100% renewable-energy region – including helping to develop a concrete plan for investment in solar, batteries, grids, skills and Pacific-led energy projects.
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Develop a roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels: Pacific leaders have increasingly called on major emitters including Australia to stop expanding fossil-fuel production, phase down fossil fuel use and stop exporting coal and gas.
Comments attributable to Warringah MP Zali Steggall
“Scientists say the world will soon pass 1.5°C warming – the question now is, how will national leaders respond?”
“The tragic consequences of global inaction on a warming climate are all too visible. We need only look to the tragic flood in Nepal, which Nepali officials have attributed to glacier melt caused by climate change.”
“Pacific Island nations will also bear the brunt of climate change harms, despite contributing very little to global emissions. Australia must show real regional leadership – by devising a roadmap away from fossil fuels, investing in the Pacific’s renewables transition, and making sure Pacific communities can survive the huge challenges ahead.”
“This cannot be another Pacific Islands Forum where Australia makes warm statements then leaves without concrete climate commitments.”
Comments attributable to Wentworth MP Allegra Spender
"Sydney just had its warmest winter on record. We are clearly on track to pass the 1.5 degree agreed limit within years. If these forums can't lift their ambition to match the thermometer, they won't solve the problem they exist to solve.”
"Australia and our Pacific neighbours are facing the same threat. For them it is existential. For us it is our prosperity and our security.”
"Australia has never held a role like this at a COP. That is a mandate to lead, not to take minutes. In Belém we signed a declaration accepting that continued fossil fuel production is incompatible with 1.5 degrees, yet our net zero plan sets no long-term roadmap for the coal and gas we export. Agreed intent is not the same as outcomes."
"We must build the renewable export industries that can replace fossil fuel income over time. That's difficult when a solar farm in New South Wales takes over three years to approve. We cannot ask the world to move faster while our own approvals get slower."
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