The meeting in the tiny atoll nation of Tuvalu was part of a Pacific preparatory event mostly hosted in Fiji. The visit fulfilled a promise by the Albanese government after Australia missed out on hosting COP31, which will be held in Turkey next month.
Tuvalu, a collection of three reef islands and six atolls, is mostly less than two metres above sea level and among the countries most at risk from rising seas. About half its population of 10,600 live in a corner of the capital, Funafuti.
Melelusi Sokotia, a 13-year-old Tuvaluan student, told the gathering that her friends dreamed of becoming "teachers, doctors, builders" but wondered if their island would be safe to live on when they grew up. "We all have one single dream: to grow safely here in Tuvalu," she said. "We are not asking for peace. We are asking for help and partnership."
Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said that with the world on the brink of overshooting the 1.5C target agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries must bring forward emission reduction plans. "That is not radical," he said. "The transition away from fossil fuels was agreed to by all of us in Dubai. It is not a new ask, and it is not open for renegotiation."
Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo called for faster access to global climate funding, arguing that vulnerable nations should not have to borrow to protect themselves from a crisis they did little to cause.
The visit came less than a week after an Australian state regulator approved another fossil fuel development, adding to more than 30 such projects given approval in the country in under five years.
Albanese, attending his first UN climate conference as prime minister since his 2022 election, said the message from Tuvalu was that climate change must be understood as more than about science or targets.