Small island states are most threatened by the impacts of climate change. Nauru, Niue, and Tuvalu in the South Pacific are addressing these threats head-on by engaging with local business to demonstrate the benefits of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.
Photo: Tuvalu XXSuva, Fiji Islands – Faced with rising sea levels and increased storms, island nations are clearly the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. However, the world’s smallest islands in the South Pacific are addressing these threats head-on and engaging with local business to demonstrate the benefits of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.
The Global Environment Facility’s Pacific Alliance for Sustainability (GEF-PAS) Low Carbon Islands (LCI) project, underway in the islands of Nauru, Niue, and Tuvalu, is creating a more favorable regulatory environment for renewables, establishing a financing mechanism for accessing renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies (RE/EE). The project is also expanding awareness and capacity building, which is fostering an inclusive discussion on energy independence and the transition to low carbon practices. This is particularly significant given the islands’ long-time dependence on imported fossil fuels to meet their energy and transport needs.
“Making the transition to a low carbon future requires local businesses to engage. By making a strong business case, IUCN and its partners have encouraged the private sector to provide new energy-efficient products, which are now shaping the consumer markets on these islands,” said Taholo Kami, IUCN’s Regional Director for Oceania, which is leading this project with funding from the Global Environment Facility. “The environmental and socio-economic benefits, alongside the projected savings to businesses participating in the new Low Carbon Fund, are expected to have a significant return on the national resources invested in each LCI country. Such evidence is bound to accelerate more sustainable energy policies and practices in the future.”
IUCN has been conducting training in all three island countries in close collaboration with the national power utilities and two private companies, Global Sustainable Energy Solutions (GSES, Australia) and Fiji-based Clay Energy since 2013. The training and certification course for public utility employees and private electrical contractors focuses on the installation of grid-connected solar PV systems, with businesses serving as demonstration sites for these PV systems. Today, these sites highlight the need for more alternative approaches that incentivize the private sector including home owners in providing reliable power to the national grid.
Increasing understanding between the correlation of electricity usage and cost is an integral component of the LCI awareness programme. Thus, the LCI website hosts an energy cost calculator with rates for each LCI country. In addition, it contains a booking calendar for Low Carbon Vehicles that are being introduced as a revenue-generating component of the Low Carbon Fund, and various other resources, such as listings of the certified renewable energy technicians, links to pertinent RE/EE legislation in each country and application forms for Low Carbon Fund loans and rebates.
The LCI project is one of many examples expected to be featured at the upcoming IUCN World Conservation Congress taking place in Honolulu, Hawai’i from 1-10 September 2016. Under the theme Planet at the crossroads, the Congress will underscore the need for urgent action to address climate change and call on governments, civil society and the private sector, among others, to collectively work together for low carbon, sustainable development.
