6 October 2026 12:55 UTC · European Commission · EU Commission Press Release · Read original source ↗ · Email X Link

European Commission Stresses Climate Action and Pacific Partnership

Key points

Wopke Hoekstra reports that the European Union maintains a non-negotiable goal of staying as close as possible to 1.5 degrees.
Wopke Hoekstra notes that the European Union will continue supporting Pacific countries to strengthen climate resilience and disaster preparedness.

TL;DR

Wopke Hoekstra states that the European Union will continue supporting Pacific and Caribbean islands on climate action.

Original text

European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Remarks by Commissioner Hoekstra at the Leaders' Plenary at the pre- COP31 meeting Fiji, 6 October 2026 Thank you, Chair, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great honour to be here today. It is hugely important for the European Union as we seek to strengthen our strong bonds with our partners in the Pacific. I want to warmly congratulate you on the organisation of the pre-COP and thank you Tuvalu, Fiji and Australia for welcoming us in what clearly is one of the world's climate frontiers. Ladies and Gentlemen, It was a privilege to go to beautiful Tuvalu today, but it also showed us the intimidating reality of losing your land. This is not an incident, an anomaly or a one off. As the Prime Minister said, it is a bellwether, a proxy for what awaits all of us. Please allow me to make three quick points. One, the European Union will continue its unwavering support for the islands in the Pacific, the Caribbean and beyond. We commend the strength, the courage, and the leadership of their advocacy for climate action – and Europe will stand shoulder to shoulder in jointly enhancing climate action. No matter how difficult that may be in today's fractured world, full of hesitation and outright denialism. Two, our responsibility is to continue to cut our emissions rapidly and deeply. It's important to recall that every fraction of a degree has increasing negative impacts on our health, our economy, our security and our prosperity. As we look towards COP31, we call upon all Parties to focus on getting the world onto a pathway, which will limit the overshoot. For the European Union, staying as close as possible to 1.5 degrees and getting back below 1.5, remains the non-negotiable goal. That means pushing ambitious NDCs. That means embracing everything science tells us. And that means doing whatever we can on clean electrification in Antalya. Three: resilience is a must-have. The European Union will continue to support Pacific countries to strengthen their climate resilience, disaster preparedness and early warning systems. And to invest in infrastructure that can withstand increasingly severe climate impacts. We will further push to achieve the agreed finance goals and to ensure better access on the ground – because that is clearly needed. Thank you. SPEECH/26/2085 <@rel_link@> Press contacts: Anna-Kaisa ITKONEN (+32 2 295 75 01) Ana CRESPO PARRONDO (+32 2 298 13 25) General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email

European Commission Stresses Climate Action and Pacific Partnership

Key points

TL;DR

Key tags

Topics

Keywords

Stats

People

Organizations

Places

Countries

Regions