Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free PacificWe, the Ministers and officials from the Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Fiji, Niue, theSolomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the Republic of Vanuatu, met for open, transparent and inclusive
discussions with regional and international experts and civil society at the 2nd Ministerial
Dialogue on Pathways for the Global Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels hosted in Port Vilaby the Governments of Vanuatu and Tuvalu from 15-17 March 2023.
We are appalled by the fossil-fuel driven consequences of the unprecedented two Category 4cyclones striking Vanuatu within four days. This is just the most recent example of theextensive and ongoing fossil fuel-induced loss and damage suffered by the people andcommunities of the Pacific Islands.
The science is clear that fossil fuels are to blame for the climate emergency. This is a crisis
driven by the greed of an exploitative industry and its enablers. It is not acceptable thatcountries and companies are still planning on producing more than double the amount offossil fuels by 2030 than the world can burn to limit warming to 1.5ºC. As the UN SecretaryGeneral has said, fossil fuels are a moral and economic madness.
The Pacific will no longer accept the fossil fuel lie. We have the power and responsibility tolead, and we will. Pacific leaders called for the Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5ºC,
and have demanded an end to the development and expansion of fossil fuel extracting
industries, starting with new coal mines. Pacific civil society has challenged the world to stepup the fight for urgent fossil fuel phase out and effective climate action.
As leaders, on behalf of present and future generations, communities on the frontlines andall of humanity, we call for:
1) A Fossil Fuel Free Pacific and a global, just and equitable phase out of coal, oil and gas,including through:a. Adopting a Pacific Island Forum Leaders Declaration for a Just Transition to aFossil Fuel Free Pacific as soon as possible, that empowers the Pacific tospearhead the unqualified, global, just and equitable phase out of coal, oil and gas
production in line with global temperature goal of below 1.5ºC, including at the UN
Secretary General’s climate summit in September, at COP28, and beyond, including
the avoidance of terminology such as “unabated” or “inefficient” that createsloopholes for fossil fuel producers and polluters.
b. Joining the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance and urging major oil and gas producers tojoin the Alliance, through committing to halting all new licensing rounds for oil andgas, and setting a Paris-aligned end date for production.
c. Calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty and leading the creation of a global
alliance to negotiate a new Treaty to govern the end to fossil fuel expansion,
equitable phase out of fossil fuels, and a global just transition.
d. Committing to transparently disclose our fossil fuel investment and projects, anddemand that all other governments do the same, including through the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative and Global Registry of Fossil Fuels.

12) New Pacific-tailored development pathways based on 100% renewable energy, including
through:a. Recognising the Pacific’s strong identity, cultural heritage, and Indigenouscommitment to environmental and social sustainability, and basing our transition onthese traditional values.
b. Referencing fossil fuel phase out explicitly in our Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Low-Emission Development Strategies (LTLEDS), and developing national just transition plans, including through existing
multilateral platforms.
c. Dramatically scaling up the deployment of renewable energy and energy efficienttechnologies across all sectors, including by transforming and scaling up ourelectricity systems, building on the Framework for Energy Security and Resilience in
the Pacific, ensuring energy independence and resource resilience, and enablingsustainable air, maritime and land transport.
d. Urgently decarbonising land transport, including through scaling up the Pacific EMobility Policy and Programme in our effort to support the decarbonisation of landtransport.
e. Calling for strengthening the Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy
Efficiency (PCREEE) and the Pacific Maritime Technology Cooperation Center(MTCC-Pacific) to focus on Pacific-appropriate technology research, innovation anddevelopment to Pacific countries in cooperation with relevant partners.
f. Calling for the 5th Pacific Regional Energy and Transport Ministers (PRETMM)
meeting to task the Pacific Community (SPC) with developing a regional strategy forcarbon free maritime transport in collaboration with initiatives such as the PacificBlue Shipping Partnership.
g. Working alongside civil society organisations, the private sector and other non-stateactors, especially at the grassroots level, to progress the development andimplementation of fossil free development pathways.
3) Expanded public and private finance for the just transition from fossil fuels to renewableenergy at the scale required, with innovative, simplified mechanisms and reforms ofexisting financial institutions, including:a. Calling on international partners to mobilise billions of USD needed in grant based
financing and direct investments into the Pacific Island countries to ensure thattransitioning out of fossil fuel dependent industries can take place in a just, fair andequitable way, resulting in socially and economically empowering paradigm shifts.
b. Reforming existing international financial institutions and climate financemechanisms to enable scaled up, timely and easily accessible funding for thistransition, and shifting to comprehensive country-wide transformational
programming approaches. Financial institutions must be able to handle the climate
finance needs of the Pacific to enable a just transition from fossil fuels and support
adaptation and loss and damage needs in a rapid and timely manner.
c. Implementing and developing national capacity on innovative means of mobilisingfinance for a just transition, preferring that, where appropriate, any present, new andfuture financing for a just transition be mobilised through multilateral developmentbanks and existing facilities, such as the Pacific Resilience Facility.
d. Ending fossil fuel subsidies and other public finance for fossil fuel production
globally, and redirecting this finance towards enabling the just transition away fromfossil fuels.

24) Redoubled efforts to reaffirm, strengthen and codify legal obligations with respect tothe global phase out of fossil fuels, including by:a. Advocating for the unqualified, global, just and equitable phase out of coal, oil andgas in line with the global temperature goal of below 1.5ºC in all international bodies
and legal institutions, particularly for upholding the legal rights of redress ofcommunities and peoples being impacted by the production and consumption offossil fuels.
b. Calling for all nations to support the adoption of the Pacific’s UN General Assembly
Resolution seeking an advisory opinion on climate change obligations from theInternational Court of Justice, and making submissions to the Court ensuring thatlegal obligations and consequences related to fossil fuels are clearly articulated.
c. Calling for all nations to support the Commission of Small Island States on Climate
Change and International Law in seeking an advisory opinion from the International
Tribunal Law of the Sea on international law concerning climate change and sea
level rise and obligations of States in protecting and preserving the marine
environment.
d. Strengthening the rule of international and domestic law to prevent Ecocide andprotect the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment fromenvironmental degradation related to the extraction, production, supply and use offossil fuels.
e. Calling for the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to adopt legally binding
obligations to establish a GHG levy that will facilitate the transition to carbon freemaritime shipping and provide revenue for affected communities in the Pacific.
Operationalising the CallTo drive the fossil fuel free pathways in this document, we agree to rapidly establish aPacific Energy Commissioner for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, with senior
experienced leadership supported by leading technical experts and a regional taskforce, andfunded by allies to a fossil fuel free world, to be formalised by Pacific Island Forum leaders inOctober 2023.

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