Fiji lost close to US$20 million in just two months because of fuel price volatility linked to the Iran conflict, Pacific campaigners warned on Tuesday as they launched a fresh international push calling on Australia to lead a regional transition to renewable energy.
The mobilisation is part of “The Great Power Shift,” a global campaign launched by 350.org and partner groups to accelerate an end to fossil fuel dependence and push for affordable, secure clean energy. At a gathering of more than 50 countries in Santa Marta, Colombia, campaigners used newly calculated short-term losses to underscore how price spikes and market turbulence hit small island economies hard. Pacific campaigner Jacynta Fa’amau said the figure — which she described as money “lined the pockets of oil and gas corporations” — illustrates a mounting regional emergency.
“Fossil fuel companies reap obscene profits even while everyday people in Pacific island countries, Australia and New Zealand suffer various states of emergency, choked by fossil fuel dependence,” Fa’amau said, framing the losses as part of a “polycrisis of climate change, energy insecurity and skyrocketing cost of living.” She urged Australia to take a leadership role in the shift away from carbon-intensive projects, explicitly calling for an end to what she labelled “monstrous carbon bombs” such as the Peak Downs mine operated by BMA.
At the Colombia forum, campaign organisers singled out Australia and Canada as major contributors to the fossil fuel production represented at the talks, saying the two countries together accounted for nearly half of production on display at the conference. Fenton Lutunatabua, Pacific and Caribbean lead for 350.org, said the concrete cost to Fiji makes the case for an accelerated transition to renewables even more urgent: “Pacific Island Countries urgently need to turn to renewables to reduce our exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets and to ease the burden on everyday people.”
The new two-month loss estimate provides a sharper economic rationale for policy change than earlier warnings about climate vulnerability alone. Fiji’s heavy reliance on imported diesel and marine fuels has long exposed its budget and households to global price shocks; campaigners say conflicts and market volatility simply magnify that exposure. The loss figure was presented by organisers and delegates at the Santa Marta meeting as evidence that the status quo transfers wealth from small island states to multinational energy firms during periods of crisis.
The Pacific campaigners’ push follows broader regional pressure on fossil-fuel producing nations. In September, Pacific leaders referenced an International Court of Justice advisory opinion to press Australia to rethink its fossil fuel export strategy, and domestically Fiji has been advancing plans to expand renewable capacity. Energy sector officials have previously outlined multi-year investment needs — estimated at roughly $2 billion by some utility sources — to scale up hydropower, solar, battery storage and transmission upgrades to reduce dependence on imported fuels.
Campaigners say the Great Power Shift aims to translate such figures and legal momentum into tangible policy shifts: halting new fossil fuel extraction projects, mobilising finance for island-scale renewables, and ensuring an equitable transition that lowers costs for consumers. For small Pacific states still absorbing repeated fuel shocks, organisers argued the new US$20 million loss estimate is a stark and immediate demonstration of why those changes cannot wait.