COP31 Should Draw on Taiwan's Pacific Climate Experience, ASPI Analysis Argues

When climate talks open in Antalya on 9 November, Australia will be leading the negotiations at COP31. An analysis published by ASPI's The Strategist argues that Canberra should use that role to keep Pacific priorities at the centre, and to restate its long-standing support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in international climate cooperation. It is an opinion piece, written in the first person, and it should be read as an argument rather than a report.

The starting point is what Pacific leaders have already said. Meeting in Koror this year, they reaffirmed that climate change is the single greatest threat to the security, livelihoods and wellbeing of their peoples. At the Pacific Pre-COP, a preparatory meeting held last month in Fiji and Tuvalu, they adopted the Taku Pakasoa Declaration, which calls for better access to climate finance and stronger community resilience. The author notes that coastal erosion and water shortages can interrupt essential services and strain public finances, and that helping partners manage those risks serves Australia's own regional security interest. Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has called for a conference built around implementation and acceleration.

The piece then turns to Taiwan. It is not a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, but the author says it publishes annual greenhouse gas inventories using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines, with reporting aligned to the Paris Agreement's transparency framework. Its latest inventory puts net emissions in 2024 at 6.59 percent below the 2005 baseline. Taiwan has approved sector-by-sector reduction plans for 2026 to 2030 and completed its first round of carbon fee collection in 2026. The author acknowledges that carrying out these policies, and supporting communities through the transition, remains demanding.

The core of the argument is Taiwan's work in the Pacific. Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Kalani Kaneko has described small, flexible transitional funding from the International Cooperation and Development Fund as a bridge to larger international climate funds. In Tuvalu, agricultural cooperation has set up two water-saving drip irrigation demonstration sites to cope with insufficient rainfall. Across the wider project, more than 112 tonnes of locally grown fruit and vegetables have been produced for schools and communities, alongside training and advisory support for local agricultural staff.

In Palau, cooperation on coastal fisheries management had, by June 2026, produced monitoring and catch-reporting sites, six vessel identification receiving stations, 162 vessel transponders and a working fisheries information platform. The author calls these measurable steps but concedes that their longer-term environmental impact needs continued assessment. Taiwan has also pledged US$3 million (A$4 million) over three years to the Pacific Resilience Facility, which backs a Pacific-led approach to community resilience.

The author's own view is that the lasting value lies in what local institutions can sustain: equipment needs maintenance, training must leave people able to operate it, and communities should help judge whether projects meet their needs. Taiwan's status as a development partner of the Pacific Islines Forum, the piece says, fits that approach, with priorities set by Pacific governments.

On participation, the author is careful. Taiwan has attended COP meetings through the Industrial Technology Research Institute, a non-governmental observer organisation, and access to particular technical meetings still depends on procedures and invitations. Where arrangements allow, the author suggests qualified Taiwanese specialists could share Pacific project experience at adaptation workshops, covering what has worked, what remains difficult and how local partners keep results going.

The piece proposes that Australia reaffirm its support for Taiwan's participation while respecting the convention's procedures. Separately, it could back technical exchanges requested by Pacific partners through the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, of which Australia is a member. Precedents exist: in 2024 Australia helped with a climate adaptation workshop run by Taiwan and Tuvalu; in September 2026 the Australian Office in Taipei co-organised a workshop on energy resilience and supply chain security with more than 40 experts from 28 countries; and in October it chaired the framework's joint committee meeting. The author says this would require no change to Australian policy settings.

What to watch is whether Antalya produces implementation commitments, and whether Taiwan's role in technical exchanges comes up at all. The author's closing line is that Pacific partners should keep guiding the agenda and judge what it delivers.