Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, has criticised Cop climate summits as “long on talk and short on action” but will attend the upcoming meeting of world leaders in Brazil, after pulling out last year in frustration with big emitters.
The leader of the Pacific nation of about 10 million people skipped the meeting in 2024 in “protest at the big nations” for failing to support to the victims of climate change. Marape will take part in the annual UN climate summit, which officially beings in Belém, Brazil on 10 November, due to “encouraging signs” emerging from developed nations on climate finance.
“I did not attend Cop29 because these meetings were often long on talk and short on action,” Marape said.
“This year, we are attending because we are beginning to see encouraging signs that developed nations are ready to deliver on climate finance and solutions.”
Marape said Papua New Guinea was both “a victim of climate change and a provider of solutions”.
“We will have our say at Cop30, and we will make sure our landowners benefit from conservation efforts.”
Cop summits have faced persistent criticism that big-emitting countries have not done enough to take meaningful climate action.
On Thursday, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, opened the gathering with harsh words for world powers who he said “remain captive to the fossil fuel interests, rather than protecting the public interest”.
Allowing global warming to exceed the key benchmark of 1.5 degrees Celsius, laid out in the Paris agreement, would represent a “moral failure and deadly negligence”, Guterres said, warning that “even a temporary overshoot will have dramatic consequences … every fraction of a degree higher means more hunger, displacement and loss”.
Like other small island states, Pacific countries are at the frontline of the climate crisis.
Papua New Guinea, which lies just north of Australia, is home to world’s third-largest expanse of rainforest, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Impoverished, surrounded by ocean and prone to natural disasters, PNG is also considered to be highly vulnerable to the perils of climate change.
Marape said his goals for Cop30 included securing fair climate finance for landowners and more recognition for its forests and oceans. He met with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Belém this week.
“We are connecting the Pacific and the Amazon, two of the world’s big forest regions, to tackle climate change and build sustainable growth,” Marape said.
The prime minister called for more cooperation with Brazil in agriculture, energy and technology. He also highlighted PNG’s energy plans, including expanding hydropower and increasing LNG exports to regional markets.
“PNG is young but rising,” Marape said. “We want to be self-sufficient in energy and support the region with clean hydropower. Our LNG exports to Japan, Korea and Singapore show PNG is a reliable energy partner.”
Marape also said PNG would support an Australia-Pacific bid to host Cop31 in 2026. Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, does not plan to attend this year’s summit in Brazil, drawing criticism as the country remains in a contest with Turkey to secure hosting rights.
In PNG, environmental groups will closely watch the talks.
Pamela Avusi from the Environmental Alliance in Port Moresby said while Marape had criticised bigger nations for failing to act on climate change, the government had exacerbated environmental problems through its own actions.
“PNG has already suffered from decades of illegal and unsustainable logging,” Avusi said. “The government needs to stop these practices to be taken seriously internationally.”
