Fiji vows 30% emissions cut

FIJI – Fiji’s prime minister says his country will cut its green house gas emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

Frank Bainimarama also says Fiji intends to be generating 99 per cent of its electricity needs from renewable sources by the same year, up from the current 60 per cent.

Bainimarama says this will be achieved through using the sun and water.

He told an international audience at the opening of Wainisavulevu Weir Raising project that he was delighted to be launching such a project ahead of the COP 21 meeting in Paris.

Bainimarama says the higher weir will boost the Wainikasau hydro power station’s generation capacity, saving Fiji US$1.3 million dollars a year.

The prime minister also reiterated his plea for all nations to agree to the provisions of the recent Suva Declaration, calling for an allowable temperature rise of 1.5 degrees celsius on pre-industrial levels, rather than the two degrees target that is currently on the agenda in Paris.

He also repeated his concern that some of reductions being submitted for Paris will exceed even this two degree limit.

He says a much more drastic approach is clearly needed to avert catastrophe. - RNZI