Pacific Nations Secure Over $200m for Climate Resilience, Lead Adaptation Efforts

Chiemelie Eze in Antalya, Turkiye 

Pacific Island nations have secured more than $200 million in pledges for climate resilience through the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), as countries intensify efforts to address the growing threats posed by rising sea levels and climate change.

The pledges, announced at the ongoing COP31 Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Türkiye, are expected to support community-centred adaptation and resilience initiatives across Pacific Island countries.

The COP31 President of Negotiations, Chris Bowen, said climate change remained an existential threat to the Pacific, putting lives, livelihoods, cultures and the future of nations at risk.

He said the international community must respond by building resilience at the scale and speed required by the crisis, supported by accessible climate finance and practical action.

Bowen noted that Pacific nations were not only experiencing the impacts of climate change but were also providing leadership through their lived experiences, indigenous knowledge and locally developed solutions.

“Pacific voices must be at the centre of global decisions. When the Pacific leads, the world benefits,” he said.

The Pacific Resilience Facility, established by Pacific leaders, is the first Pacific-led, owned and managed fund dedicated to financing community-centred adaptation and resilience across Pacific Island countries.

Among countries that announced new pledges in 2026 are the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

At COP31, the Minderoo Foundation also became the facility’s first philanthropic donor, pledging $5 million to strengthen the growing coalition of partners supporting Pacific-led climate resilience.

The announcement reinforced calls by leaders at the conference for climate commitments to translate into accessible financing and practical interventions that directly benefit vulnerable communities.

Also speaking, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, said the Antalya Compact represented an important step towards making energy-efficient and resilient buildings a global standard.

She, however, warned that the window for transforming the buildings sector was narrowing, urging governments to accelerate implementation through policies, investments and solutions that reduce emissions, lower energy bills and deliver lasting benefits.

Similarly, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, said countries must move beyond climate commitments to actual delivery.

She identified cities as critical to climate action, noting that decisions on housing, transportation, land use and basic services influence both emissions and people’s ability to withstand climate shocks.

Rossbach called for adequate housing, the transformation of informal settlements and slums, and stronger urban resilience to be placed at the centre of climate action.

In her remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Climate Investment Funds, Tariye Gbadegesin, said the strong demand for the Accelerating Resilience Investment and Strengthening Economies (ARISE) initiative demonstrated that countries were prepared to take action on climate resilience.

She said countries already had investment plans, priorities and clear visions for protecting their economies and communities, but often lacked the catalytic financing required to turn those priorities into investable opportunities.

“ARISE is designed to help bridge that gap and create the conditions for much larger flows of public and private investment in resilience,” she said.