Countries Pursuing Oil and Gas ‘Signing Away Our Future,’ UN Chief Tells Pacific Islands

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga with a speech that accused governments that issued new oil and gas licences of “signing away our future.”
Several low-lying Pacific nations are at risk from rising sea levels, so the message has particular resonance at this event, which is being held in Tonga’s capital of Nuku’alofa.
The Pacific Islands Forum is a regional grouping that includes Australia, New Zealand, and 16 Pacific states.
The Australian federal government recently announced it would permit new gas exploration off the coast of Victoria and Tasmania to increase the country’s supply. This move would see the retention of fossil fuels well past 2050.
Offshore petroleum exploration was banned in New Zealand in 2018, but the government has announced it will introduce a Bill to reverse that restriction in the second half of this year. It said the move was necessary to control electricity prices, ease the cost-of-living crisis, and grow the economy with international investment.
“Raging conflicts, an escalating climate crisis, inequalities, and injustices everywhere. The 2030 Agenda is faltering,” he said.
“Yet you are on the frontlines of the climate crisis, dealing with extreme weather events from raging tropical cyclones to record ocean heatwaves.”
Neither New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon nor his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese were there to hear Guterres’ speech. Both are scheduled to arrive at the Forum tomorrow.
Guterres met Luxon last week during his second-ever visit to New Zealand. He told journalists on Aug. 24 that he didn’t raise the listing of the oil and gas ban with the prime minister as he believed it was “a futile exercise.”
The Pacific Islands Forum is scheduled to occupy the entire week and, aside from climate, will likely cover regional security issues, particularly the situation in New Caledonia.