Transcript
"Tuvalu for example, where I was, the Prime Minister is very concerned that his whole country is going to disappear with rising sea levels. So for them the impacts of climate change are pretty evident and potentially catastrophic. In Fiji, there are issues of water problems, there are issues in Samoa of coastal erosion, and so we and others, like New Zealand, are working closely with our Pacific partners on how do we address the impacts of climate change? how do we climate-proof those communities and build resilience in the face of some very changing circumstances for them. Another element is that Fiji is hosting the next major international climate change negotiations, called COP 23, so that's a very big deal for Fiji. I don't think a Pacific Island country has ever hosted a COP before. So I was in Fiji talking to them about what their plans are - what sort of support they might need."
But Mr Suckling's visit also raised the issue of his country's coal industry.
The climate change activist group 350.org Pacific says Australia's continued expansion of the fossil fuel industry is a "slap in the face of the vulnerable Pacific Islands."
Mr Suckling said that he did support the development of what will be Australia's biggest coal mine, Carmichael in Queensland, by the Indian company Adani.
He says fossil fuels will continue to be a big part of the energy mix for decades to come.
PATRICK SUCKLING: "That's the reality, you can't wish that away. But what we are all committed to is a transition to a lower emissions global economy - that's what the Paris Agreement is all about - and we like many others are committed to stripping as much carbon out of fossil fuels as possible through new technologies, through energy efficiency, so, in that context, we had good discussions about the fact that you have to pull every lever for this transition to a low carbon world and that means pulling the renewable lever as hard as possible, it means stripping carbon out of fossil fuels as fast and as much as possible and it also means for countries with nuclear, then using that option.
KATE GUDSELL: I understand that coal is still going to be part of the future but surely we should be moving to phase that out rather than opening new mines like Carmichael?
PS: I think that the world is committed to a transition to a low-carbon future, and that's what the Paris Agreement is all about, but that transition will not happen overnight. So if you have 100-million people in India without electricity, or 300-million people, but 100-million people that may benefit from a mine in Australia, electricity is a fundamental building block of anyone's development of getting out of poverty - then at the moment that's an option that countries are choosing to use. India is building coal-fired powered stations - they're building cleaner coal-fired powered stations - they're using cleaner coal - part of the reason they want to use our coal is that because it's less emissions intensive than other coal. So the reality is that fossil fuels will be used but as part of that transition, countries are making every effort to have as lower emissions as possible and that's what this ultra supercritical coal-fired technology offers.
KG: Did the Carmichael mine - did that get raised with you in Fiji?
PS: No, but we had a good discussion about Australia's policies, and the global policies, and there's just a very clear, I think, sensible understanding that we are in a transition - the transition will take decades and it's just a reality that coal, gas and oil will be a very significant part of the energy mix for decades to come and therefore the challenge is not to wish that away, sweep it under the carpet, stick your head in the sand, the challenge is how do you strip as much carbon out of that as possible while those are still being used as we transition to a lower emissions global economy.
