New SPC report confirms that collective action, backed by science, partnerships and climate finance, is strengthening resilience and low-carbon development across the Pacific.
Across the Pacific, climate change is reshaping economies, food systems, and ecosystems, yet new evidence shows that collective science and coordination are delivering results at scale.
The First Biennial Climate Change Flagship Report 2023–2024 by the Pacific Community (SPC) consolidates data from more than 275 activities across 22 Pacific Island countries and territories. It presents an aggregation of collective actions across SPC to deliver against clear outcomes across five interconnected dimensions: adaptation and resilience, mitigation and just transition, loss and damage, climate security, climate finance, and enabling actions.
Ms Coral Pasisi, Director of Climate Change and Sustainability at SPC, said the results highlight how integrated climate action drawing on the breadth of SPC’s regional public goods of science and technical capability and access to climate finance is strengthening the region's response to climate change.
“The Climate Change Flagship brings together Pacific knowledge, science, technical expertise and access to finance so countries can make informed decisions grounded in evidence and shared learning. It is helping us move from scattered projects to a programmatic approach, building a mosaic of sustainable action and sustainable finance aligned to benchmarks of success under the region's 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent.”
Results show deep regional reach. More than 369,000 people were directly benefiting and engaged through adaptation and resilience, mitigation, loss and damage and climate finance work, including communities supported through water security, climate-smart agriculture, fisheries management, and risk-reduction infrastructure.
SPC’s scientific programmes strengthened climate monitoring and early-warning systems, delivered game-changing 3-D modelling for sea-level rise and wave inundation, and enhanced decision-making through Digital Earth Pacific and the Pacific Data Hub.
Under the mitigation and just transition dimension, SPC integrated the Pacific NDC Hub into its broader regional architecture in partnership with SPREP and GGGI to advance PICTs' NDCs. It worked with countries to increase renewable-energy access and efficiency, including decarbonisation initiatives in maritime transport. Through loss and damage and climate security, SPC supported PIC submissions to the landmark International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and advanced critical assessments and action in coastal fisheries, agriculture, forestry, and health.
Climate finance leveraging was very significant: over USD 85 million in new funding mobilised, bringing a total accumulated pipeline of USD 387 million from a range of sources.
These achievements rest on SPC’s enabling capabilities, data systems, monitoring and evaluation, partnerships, and institutional leadership, which serve as the shared foundation for climate action. SPC is home to significant and long standing regional public goods and capabilities such as the Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees, and the Pacific Community Centre for Ocean Science , the regions Fisheries Science, custodianship of the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, the Pacific Data Hub, and these collectively provide the evidence base guiding important climate decisions alongside development efforts.
Early investment from New Zealand’s NZD 30 million Anchor Grant, complemented by support from Australia and Denmark, has strengthened SPC’s institutional capability, allowing data, modelling, and innovation to inform and leverage climate finance and action across multiple sectors.
Ms Anne-Claire Goarant, Coordinator of the Climate Change Flagship, said the report demonstrates how coordination translates research into sustained national benefits.
“The Flagship connects science, policy, and capacity building so Pacific countries can plan, implement, and learn together. It is not just about visibility; it is about systems that last.”
The evidence gathered through the report demonstrates that Pacific resilience grows through shared systems and sustained cooperation rather than isolated projects. It highlights priorities for the coming years: strengthening national implementation capacity, improving the integration of climate data across sectors, and deepening collaboration between scientific institutions and communities so that solutions remain grounded in local realities.
Ms Pasisi said the report reinforces a lesson the Pacific has long understood that resilience grows from collective strength and knowledge shared across the region.
“Our strength lies in how we work together. When Pacific science and local knowledge align, we not only adapt we lead,” she said. As the largest intergovernmental organisation in the region, covering every SDG under the sun, SPC’s efforts to scale climate action across important sectors to PICs are critical to build climate resilience and a sustainable, low-carbon future.
As the Pacific prepares for COP30 in Belém, the evidence is clear. Regional science, institutional partnerships, and Pacific-led coordination are producing measurable gains in adaptation, mitigation, and resilience, proving that climate action grounded in knowledge and shared systems delivers results that endure.
Read the report here.
For more information
-Anne-Claire Goarant, Climate Change Flagship Coordinator, Climate Change and Sustainability Division, Pacific Community, SPC [email protected]
-Liya Perepada, Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability Division, Pacific Community, SPC [email protected]
