Climate change in Fiji

Climate change in Fiji is an exceptionally pressing issue for the country - as an island nation, Fiji is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, coastal erosion and extreme weather. These changes, along with temperature rise, will displace Fijian communities and will prove disruptive to the national economy - tourism, agriculture and fisheries, the largest contributors to the nation's GDP, will be severely impacted by climate change causing increases in poverty and food insecurity. As a party to both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement, Fiji hopes to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, which, along with national policies, will help to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that the climate crisis has worsened human rights conditions moderately (4.6 out of 6) in Fiji.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Fiji's CO2 emissions have been steadily rising since the mid-1980s, and the country currently emits approximately 1.47 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, equating to 1.59 tons per capita. Despite its rising emissions, Fiji is still a very small contributor to global CO2 emissions, representing approximately 0.004% of global emissions in 2021. In terms of other greenhouse gases, Fiji's per capita methane and nitrous oxide emissions are low, equating to 0.72 tons and 0.19 tons respectively in 2021.

Energy production and consumption

Due to its lack of infrastructural capabilities, Fiji - like many other Pacific island nations - is still heavily dependent on oil imports to meet its energy needs. As such, 75% of Fiji's electricity was generated from oil, which accounted for 21.7% of its imports for 2019. In 2019, 25% of Fiji's energy came from renewable energy sources: 69% of renewable energy was generated from bioenergy, 30% from hydropower and the remaining 1% from solar.