Climate change policy and sustainable energy development in Fiji: Implications to Pacific Island States

Abstract

Fiji’s National Climate Change Policy (FNCCP), established in 2012, encourages the government to take up climate change mitigation initiatives, as part of Fiji’s contribution to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy use is one of the largest contributors to global warming, and the substitution of fossil fuel with renewable energy, coupled with energy efficiency measures, provide the most effective way for mitigating climate change. It would therefore be expected that the country’s energy development plans would bear strong synergies with the objectives of the National Climate Change Policy. This chapter presents a brief overview of Fiji’s National Climate Change Policy, followed by a review of the recent energy developments in the country and its new National Energy Policy (NEP). It is found that there is a clear mismatch between the NEP and the NCCP on the issue of energy considerations with regard to climate change mitigation. Indeed there is no mention in the NEP of the existence of the nation’s National Climate Change Policy and its commitments to the global climate change mitigation efforts through energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. Plausible reasons for the absence of a linkage between the two policies are put forward, and possible methods to redress the problem are suggested.