Pacific Forum a critical element in Anthony Albanese's global roadshow

And while the setting was strikingly different to the White House and Beijing's Great Hall of the People, the Meeting was a profoundly important event that highlighted the challenges faced by the communities on the front lines of climate change.

As the world's largest blue oceans continent, Australia sits as both a physical and diplomatic bridge between the US and China. As a founding member of the Pacific Island Forum, what Australia said in the Cook Islands will have important and lasting implications not only for the Pacific, but also for our own country and the wider region.

At a press conference on Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged to support climate refugees from Tuvalu to resettle in Australia. WWF-Australia welcomes this commitment as an expression of Australia's humanitarian values, but Mr Albanese's government needs to do much more given the scale of the climate crisis confronting the region.

Australia needs to significantly increase the ambition of its emissions reduction targets and decarbonise much more quickly if we are going to help avert a total climate catastrophe.

We know that despite the idyllic scenes of an island paradise with palm trees, turquoise waters and white sand, communities across the Blue Pacific are facing an existential crisis.

Pacific Island countries are experiencing earlier, more frequent, and more extreme weather events, as ocean warming, coastal inundation, sea level rise, and acidification erode the ecosystems that underpin livelihoods and culture. Just this year, Vanuatu has been devastated by three major tropical cyclones in only seven months, with Tropical Cyclone Lola only two weeks ago becoming the earliest Category 5 system on record in the Southern Hemisphere.

Pacific leaders have been telling the world of the crisis they are confronting for many years now, but we have not heeded their warnings because of our unhealthy addiction to fossil fuels.

The island nations of the Pacific need countries like Australia to support their adaptation and resilience efforts, but they also need us to listen to their calls to tackle the root causes of climate change.

In March this year, six Pacific nations clearly set out their roadmap for climate action, including phasing out fossil fuels, to save their island homes.

The Port Vila Call for a Just Transition to a Fossil-Fuel Free Pacific detailed a four-point action plan that included the creation of a global fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty.

It also calls for new Pacific-tailored development pathways based on 100% renewable energy, expanded public and private finance mechanisms and a redoubling of efforts to reaffirm, strengthen and codify legal obligations for the global phase out of fossil fuels.

These are all things that Australia can support as it steps up to contribute its fair share of global climate finance.

In 2022, Australia signalled to the world that it's "back at the table" on climate.

The Australian PM set out a vision to be a renewable energy superpower. Australia has also put up its hand to host the COP31 climate summit in 2026, in partnership with the Pacific, and has started to increase its commitments to global climate finance.

A successful joint bid for COP31 would bring great advantages to Australia. It would help the nation demonstrate global leadership on climate change, following a long period of being seen as a 'climate laggard'.

It would also bring overseas investment and fast-track Australia's ambition to be a global leader in renewable energy.

As co-hosts of COP31, Pacific leaders - who are already a powerful force at UN climate events - would be front and centre with Australia to powerfully state their case on financing, adaptation, and mitigation.

It would also be a unique opportunity for Australia to work together with the Pacific to take ambitious commitments coming from COP30 in Brazil and turn those into global climate actions.

But if the Australian government takes its bid to co-host COP31 seriously, it must first reconsider its position on approving new coal and gas developments.

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The International Energy Agency says demand for fossil fuels will peak by 2030 and then decline. Australia must exit from fossil fuels on a set timeline and deliver on climate finance to support our Pacific neighbours.

As a renewable energy superpower, Australia also has another responsibility - to countries in East and South Asia who have set targets to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and are currently buyers of our coal and gas.

We must help them in their rapid transitions to renewable energy and be clear that they too must deliver on their global emissions reduction commitments.

If we look at the rapid progress Australia has made in renewable energy over the past four years, I am confident that by COP31, the world will increasingly look to Australia and the Pacific as leaders in the renewable energy transformation and climate resilience.

Australia's actions at the Pacific Island Forum this week are a step in the right direction, but they must be just the start.