Climate change
Cultural security in the Pacific: Why it matters for regional security
Last week, Pacific leaders and officials discussed the region’s ocean governance in Nadi, law enforcement in Koror, a potential Australia–Pacific COP31 in Suva, and Melanesian…
Climate change: Counting the costs and opportunities
A principle isn’t a principle until it costs you something, the adage goes.
Since 2015, successive Lowy Institute polls have found that the majority of Australians support…
Loss and damage: Thoughts on global climate fund reform
A major issue that undoubtedly will be a point of contention at this year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai in December, is the architecture of a fund meant to pay for loss and…
Stepping on the gas: Boosting Australia’s climate diplomacy in the region
The Australia’s women’s soccer team the Matildas may have gone down in the World Cup semi-final this week, but they certainly won over the fans – perhaps none more surprising,…
The climate crisis demands sovereign debt justice
International scientific and economic research suggests that developing countries, many of which neither created nor benefitted from historical greenhouse gas emissions, are…
Understanding “loss and damage” from climate change across the Indo-Pacific
Floods in Southeast Asia, severe tropical cyclones in the Pacific, islands and coastal settlements threatened by sea level rise and millions of displaced people as a result. The…
The cost-benefit of turning “dirty” shipping clean
What do you value more – stopping climate chaos or keeping global shipping cheap? That was the dilemma many developing countries faced at the wood-panelled London headquarters of…
Setting the standard: An important step on the path to net zero emissions
The release of international standards rarely makes global headlines, but they are an essential backdrop to our everyday lives. Without international standards on postage,…
Samoa and the Alliance of Small Islands States show climate security is also about loss and damage
Samoa assumed a leadership role in January this year as chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the negotiating bloc for small island developing states. Samoa is…
Existential risk is a whole-of-society challenge
Existential risks have been in the news recently. In May, a group of prominent artificial intelligence experts and industry leaders warned that “Mitigating the risk of extinction…