The Pacific Community (SPC) secured US$129.9 million in new climate finance approvals in 2025, as its Climate Change Flagship expanded support for Pacific Island countries on climate resilience, fisheries, health and climate justice.
SPC’s 2025 Climate Change Flagship Results Report records 380 results across five areas of climate action, including adaptation and resilience, emissions reduction, loss and damage, climate finance and institutional support.
The programme reached at least 12,607 people through climate-related activities, including 5,186 women and 6,135 men, with 1,286 people recorded without sex-disaggregated data.
“The Pacific is also at the forefront of climate leadership,” said Coral Pasisi, SPC’s Director of Climate Change and Sustainability.
The report highlights growing efforts by Pacific countries to strengthen their climate planning, improve access to funding and build the scientific and technical systems needed to respond to climate risks.
The US$129.9 million in new approvals covered three projects: a US$107 million Green Climate Fund investment to help tuna-dependent Pacific communities and economies adapt to climate change; US$17.89 million to strengthen resilience to climate-related health risks in the Federated States of Micronesia; and a US$5 million Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Co: Lab.
SPC also supported seven Pacific Island countries and territories to update and submit enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in 2025.
They were Niue, Tuvalu, the Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Vanuatu.
NDCs outline countries’ climate commitments under the Paris Agreement and help guide national efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
The report said SPC’s work on loss and damage also expanded, with scientific surveys in Vanuatu and Kiribati, coastal inundation assessments for Samoa and Tonga, national dialogues and support for Pacific participation in international climate justice processes.
SPC provided technical, scientific and legal advice to Pacific countries participating in the International Court of Justice advisory opinion process on states’ obligations in respect of climate change. The support contributed to 11 written statements, 10 written comments and 13 oral statements submitted or delivered during the process.
The programme also strengthened regional access to climate and environmental data through Digital Earth Pacific, which delivered nine products, involved seven Pacific Island countries and territories in product development and validation, and reached 402 people through capacity development.
The report said these tools could support coastal-risk assessments, ecosystem management, water-resource monitoring and evidence-based planning.
SPC Climate Change Flagship Coordinator Anne-Claire Goarant said the results demonstrated the importance of bringing together technical expertise across different sectors. “Climate change will remain one of the defining challenges of our generation,” Goarant said.
The report said the programme’s work extended across fisheries, agriculture, health, geoscience, statistics, human rights, ocean science and climate finance, reflecting the wide-ranging effects of climate change on Pacific development.
Adaptation and resilience remained the programme’s largest delivery area in 2025, while reporting on loss and damage and climate security increased substantially.
Mitigation activities also expanded through support for emissions-reduction commitments, transparency systems and just-transition planning.
SPC said the results showed progress in building the systems needed for longer-term climate action, although population-level and ecosystem-level impacts were not yet fully measurable.
The report also identified the need to improve the collection of gender-disaggregated data and track how inclusive planning influences programme design and benefits for women, young people, persons with disabilities and communities facing greater climate risks.
SPC said its Climate Change Flagship supports the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent by helping countries strengthen climate and disaster resilience, improve access to finance and make better-informed decisions.
The report acknowledged New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for its anchor investment in the programme, alongside other governments, donors and development partners supporting regional
climate action…..PACNEWS