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Vanuatu climate minister frets over US climate reversal

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174055521768120250226 (2).jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">US President Donald Trump throws pens to the crowd after signing executive orders during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. <em>Jim Watson, AFP</em></span></span></span>SYDNEY — Vanuatu&#x27;s climate minister said Wednesday his low-lying Pacific nation is vexed by the potential impact of President Donald Trump&#x27;s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.</div><p>The Pacific archipelago, home to around 320,000 people, has struggled with natural disasters and with creeping seas starting to eat away at its fertile coastal fringe.</p><p>Trump has called climate change a &quot;scam&quot;, made no secret of his disdain for the United Nations and pulled Washington out of the landmark Paris Agreement for a second time.</p><p>Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu&#x27;s climate change minister, told AFP his country was &quot;not happy&quot; with the US withdrawal from the international climate fight and its freeze on foreign aid.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/health-science/2025/2/24/us-shuns-climate-science-meeting-2311">US shuns climate science meeting<br/></a></div><p>&quot;We&#x27;re all worried about the possible consequences of the anti-climate change kind of bent of the new US government,&quot; Regenvanu said in an interview.</p><p>But he said he hoped Vanuatu&#x27;s &quot;long relationship&quot; with the United States — including housing the largest military base in the South Pacific during World War II — would allow the two countries to &quot;talk about these issues&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/weather-traffic/2025/1/14/explainer-how-climate-change-is-driving-extreme-weather-events-1047">EXPLAINER: How climate change is driving extreme weather events<br/></a></div><p>Vanuatu&#x27;s national data shows the sea level around the archipelago rose 6 millimeters (0.23 inches) per year between 1990 and 2010 — faster than the global average.</p><p>Scientists say it is expected to rise further.</p><p>Adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change are costly, the minister said.</p><p>Pacific nations are hoping to tap alternative financial sources in the future such as taxes on fossil fuel production or for damaging the climate, he added.</p><p>&quot;That is the place the international community has stopped at the edge of talking about. But we want to push that discussion.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/20/trump-us-to-withdraw-from-paris-agreement-expand-drilling-0223">Trump: US to withdraw from Paris agreement, expand drilling<br/></a></div><p>Regenvanu said he also wanted to establish a blue and green bond market -- similar to what Fiji implemented in 2023 -- where money raised from investors is used to fund marine or environmental protection projects.</p><p>&quot;We need to get the climate finance sorted out so that we can access that money that we need to build that resilient infrastructure.&quot;</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Vanuatu's climate minister said Wednesday his low-lying Pacific nation is vexed by the potential impact of President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.</p>

Vanuatu's climate minister said Wednesday his low-lying Pacific nation is vexed by the potential impact of President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.