Pacific Nations Band Together to Call for Climate Change Action: CHOGM

A new report says Australia, Canada, and the UK are responsible for 60 percent of emissions across Commonwealth nations.

An aerial view of a strip of land between the Pacific Ocean (R) and lagoon in Funafuti, Tuvalu on Nov. 28, 2019. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Tuvalu’s prime minister has told the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting that planned the planned expansion of fossil fuel projects in nations such as Australia represented, for his country, a “death sentence” as climate change took centre stage in Apia, Samoa.

The phrase had not been chosen lightly, said Prime Minister Feleti Teo, who warned that Pacific Islands countries “will not sit quietly and allow others to determine our fate.”