Speaking at the side event at the COP29 focused on sector-based green transitions, the Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs and Sugar Industry, Hon. Charan Jeath Singh, has urged the other developed countries to accelerate the green transition in both urban and rural sectors to meet urgent climate targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
While reflecting on the vulnerability of small island nations like Fiji to climate change, with particular emphasis on the impacts faced by the country’s sugar industry, Minister Singh highlighted a key pillar of Fiji’s economy, which is a source of livelihood for over 10,000 farmers, but has been hit hard by climate change-induced challenges.
Over the past decade, Fiji has suffered over $1 billion in financial losses in the sugar industry alone due to climate change. Our sugar mills, which have been the backbone of our economy, have been devastated by category 5 cyclones, and our farmers are facing increased heat stress, saltwater intrusion, and unpredictable rainfall that threaten their livelihoods and our nation’s food security,” he said.
Minister Singh emphasised the green transition in the sugar industry, which is critical for building resilience to climate change and ensuring long-term economic stability.
He outlined Fiji’s plans to transform the sugar industry into the renewable energy sector by developing sugar-based biofuels, such as ethanol, which can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%. Fiji is also exploring partnerships to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in collaboration with Fiji Airways to further reduce the country’s carbon footprint.
“Fiji is determined to build resilient sugar industry. We seek to make Fiji’s sugar sector a base for hydrogen production, which will not only help to drive the sugar industry’s green transition but also help to drive green energy transitions in sectors such as shipping. This is an essential step forward in making Fiji a hydrogen hub on the green shipping corridor across the Blue Pacific,” said Minister Singh.
Minister Singh has called for urgent and equitable action on climate finance, stressing that the green transition cannot be the preserve of rich countries alone. He urged that other rich countries responsible for the climate crisis should not benefit alone from the global green energy transition.
Moreover, both the world’s rich and large countries and its high-polluting developing countries cannot drive their own green ambition and leave small states like us behind—to fall further behind in our adaptation; to fall further behind in building our resilience.
Minister Singh concluded by stressing that the success of the green transition in Fiji’s sugar industry is not just about economic growth but about securing peace and stability for future generations.