TALENT ALERT: Pacific nations running out of time and fuel: ministers unite to end fossil fuel dependency
Fossil Fuel Treaty
APRIL 10, 2025
As Pacific nations scramble to secure fuel supplies — with Fiji hiking petrol prices, Tuvalu sending government workers home and the Marshall Islands declaring a 90-day economic emergency — ministers from across the region are convening in Vanuatu to do something about the fossil fuel dependency at the heart of the crisis.
Pacific ministers, senior climate negotiators and international experts from the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative are available for interview ahead of Port Vila II — the third Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Ministerial Dialogue on the Global Just Transition, taking place in Vanuatu from April 13–15.
The meeting will coordinate the Pacific's unified position ahead of the First International Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta, Colombia — a historic milestone that Pacific nations were instrumental in creating and will be crucial in taking forward. The summit raises serious questions about Australia's role as a Pacific partner and the contradiction of expanding coal and gas at a time when its neighbours are disappearing beneath rising seas.
To arrange interviews, please contact:
Sean Kennedy - 0447 121 378 - [email protected]
AVAILABLE SPOKESPEOPLE
Hon. Ralph Regenvanu
Minister for Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geo-Hazards and Disaster Management, Government of Vanuatu
Ralph Regenvanu is a Ni-Vanuatu anthropologist, politician and Member of Parliament since 2008. A senior Pacific minister with deep experience in climate diplomacy and disaster management.
Hon. Dr. Maina Talia
Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, Government of Tuvalu
A Tuvaluan politician, theologian and climate advocate. Minister Talia represents Tuvalu — one of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations — and has been a powerful voice for frontline Pacific communities in international climate negotiations.
Tzeporah Berman
Founder and Chair, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative
A 30-year veteran of international climate campaigning and International Program Director at Stand.Earth. Tzeporah is one of the world's foremost advocates for a global managed phase-out of fossil fuels and can speak to the treaty's international momentum and the significance of Santa Marta.
Joseph Sikulu
Pacific Champion for the Fossil Fuel Treaty / Climate Change Campaigner and Advocate
A Tongan activist who has spent over a decade building Pacific climate movements across island communities and the diaspora. Joseph brings a frontline Pacific community perspective and can speak powerfully to Australia's obligations as a Pacific neighbour.
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ABOUT THE FOSSIL FUEL TREATY INITIATIVE
The idea of a Fossil Fuel Treaty was born in the Pacific, a region that has long understood that its survival depends on ending the world's dependence on coal, oil and gas. The movement gained significant momentum in Port Vila in March 2023, following the unprecedented impact of two Category 4 cyclones striking Vanuatu within the same week, when six nations issued a collective call for a global fossil fuel treaty - building on earlier endorsements from Vanuatu and Tuvalu. Today, that movement has grown to 18 countries, more than 150 subnational governments, 4,000 civil society organisations, and over one million individual endorsees worldwide.
Learn more at fossilfueltreaty.org
Contact details:
To arrange interviews, please contact:
Sean Kennedy - 0447 121 378 - [email protected]