Climate Change
Climate change is the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the people of the Pacific. Rising sea levels threaten coastal land, infrastructure and water sources; warming temperatures will put the people’s health, water and food security at risk; while more severe and frequent extreme weather events will increasingly impact settlements. Climate change is a complex environmental, social, economic and political issue that is impacting on the development, well-being and livelihoods of cities and communities worldwide. However, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), in particular, are highly exposed to climate risks, while having limited resources and capacity to respond or adapt.
The Pacific region includes some of the most at-risk nations in the world to natural disaster risk and is particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change. The vulnerability of the region to climate change impacts is shaped by geographic and socio-economic characteristics. Particularly, small size and remoteness in conjunction with large parts of the population living in poverty and key infrastructure being located in particularly exposed areas exacerbate the region’s vulnerability. The key climate change impacts projected to affect the region are: (i) sea level rise; (ii) variations in air and ocean temperatures; (ii) intensification of extreme weather phenomena, such as cyclones; (iv) changes in precipitation patterns; and (v) ocean acidification. Most of these impacts are already common risk factors regionally, which are projected to be exacerbated by climate change. These climate change impacts could undermine the gained development efforts and pose a serious threat to sustainable development pathways.
We help communities, businesses, civil society organisations, multilateral development institutions and government partners translate climate science and global climate models into downscaled, locally viable strategies and solutions. We work with our clients to develop programs and policies that will improve resilience to climate impacts, mitigate behaviours that exacerbate vulnerabilities, and protect natural resources through sustainable economic growth.
Climate Finance
We help clients to unlock the public and private financing needed to invest in a sustainable and flourishing low-carbon, climate-resilient future. Our team understands that accessing climate finance is one of the biggest obstacles to creating a more resilient world. Our specialists and experts support our clients to access, manage and channel financial resources that support climate adaptation strategies, program and projects. We are fluent in climate mitigation and adaptation finance and can help you identify the funds that best suit your needs, guiding you through complicated application procedures and writing successful proposals that meet donor conditionality and standards. Our goal is to help our clients access the finance they need to move from design and planning to implementation of their initiatives.
Resilience
Investment in resilience today means protection and cost avoidance in the future. Certain sectors are especially vulnerable to climate change, in particular extreme weather events. Understanding the vulnerability of project resources and activities in these sectors is critical for taking action to reduce risk and strengthen adaptive capacity. Our firm couples technical assistance with local expertise to assist clients and communities strengthen their resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change. Our success in building resilience lies in our participatory approach to community engagement and stakeholder consultation to support collaborative action among project partners.
Renewable Energy
We provide advisory and technical services to help our clients design and deliver successful renewable energy and energy efficiency projects that represent the future direction of this vital industry. We work with a range of organisations across the energy sector in the Pacific – utilities, private developers, investors, technology companies, government bodies, and regulators – as they shape strategy, improve operations and capture value. From analysing regulatory and legal landscapes to undertaking feasibility studies and developing project pipelines, our firm provides our clients with an in-depth understanding of local contextual considerations, including opportunities and risks.
Community-Based Adaptation
Our team has extensive experience on projects leading stakeholder driven planning for community based adaptation to climate change. We collaboratively develop and facilitate processes that allow diverse groups of stakeholders to share information and experiences to identify collective goals and actions that support long-term sustainability and resilience of interventions. By engaging in community-based climate change adaptation measures, rural communities and local actors improve their social and economic situation as well as the environmental conditions.
The field of climate information is expanding rapidly as enormous volumes of climate-relevant information and knowledge are produced to meet demand across different sectors of society. The existing climate knowledge system will not be enough to supporting the climate mitigation and adaptation actions necessary for our societies to survive and thrive. Our team works between information producers and people who use the information, screening and evaluating the flood of resources to provide tailored knowledge at crucial times. We act as demand-led intermediaries, translators and advocates for climate-conscious decision making and development of bespoke knowledge management materials.
Knowledge Brokering
We provide advisory and technical assistance for sector-specific efforts to address climate change, including cross-cutting sectors such as gender and social inclusion, disaster risk reduction, and climate finance.