MINISTERIAL DIALOGUE CALLED FOR STRENGTHENING OF PCREEE AND ITS E-MOBILITY PROGRAMME

Nuku’alofa, Tonga

The recent Ministerial Dialogue on Pathways for the Global Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels recognized the PCREEE’s role in the region’s effort to accelerate the transition and called for the strengthening of the PCREEE and to urgently decarbonise land transport, including the scaling up of its Pacific electric mobility policy and programme. This is part of the new Pacific-tailored development pathways towards 100% renewable energy and a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific (F3P) agreed to at the Dialogue.

Advancing the Pacific Leaders’ call for the Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5ºC,
the Dialogue was hosted in Port Vila by the Governments of Vanuatu and Tuvalu from 15-17 March 2023. Ministers and officials from the Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Fiji, Niue, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the Republic of Vanuatu met for an open, transparent, and inclusive discussions with regional and international experts and civil society.

Photo: Solar Photovoltaic installation at Nanumea Atoll, Tuvalu

The Dialogue reaffirmed that fossil fuels are to blame for the climate emergency, including the most recent and unprecedented two Category 4 cyclones striking Vanuatu within four days.  

“The PCREEE is humbled with the recognition by the Dialogue”, said Solomone Fifita, Manager of the PCREEE. The PCREEE was launched as an UNIDO-SIDS Dock partnership during the 3rd SIDS Conference in Samoa in 2014 to address the energy and climate development challenges of the Pacific SIDS. Three years later in 2017, it was fully operational at Nuku’alofa, Tonga. The PCREEE, under the Geoscience Energy and Maritime Division of the Pacific Community, acts as a regional vehicle for accelerating the transition to renewable energy and energy efficiency and fills gaps in the regional energy services deliveries. These are in the areas of market development, investments, and business promotion.   The PCREEE also plays the crucial role of linking the Pacific Islands to the 10 other regional energy centres that makes up the UNIDO-coordinated global network of sustainable energy centres (GN-SEC - www.gn-sec.net/">https://www.gn-sec.net/">Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centers (GN-SEC ).

The PCREEE has entered various partnerships which has enabled it to assist SPC member countries in the areas of energy business start-ups and entrepreneurship, electric mobility, renewable energy mini-grids and investments in energy efficiency. On reaching its 6th Anniversary in April, the PCREEE looks forward to working closely with partners in accelerating the global just transition away from fossil fuels.

About PCREE

The PCREEE is a regional vehicle to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies in the Pacific Islands and is co-hosted by the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Tonga Government at Nuku’alofa, Tonga. It is a collaboration between SPC, UNIDO, SIDS Dock, the Government of Tonga and the Government of Austria and Norway.

About Pacific Community

The Pacific Community supports sustainable development by applying a people-centred approach to science, research, and technology across all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We serve our members by interweaving and harnessing the nexus of climate, ocean, land, culture, rights, and good governance; through trusted partnerships; investing in Pacific people; and understanding Pacific contexts.

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