Vanuatu Scales Back Climate Resolution Under US Pressure, Drops Loss‑and‑Damage Registry Ahead of Vote

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Vanuatu has trimmed contentious elements from a United Nations climate resolution after pressure from the United States but is pushing ahead with a reduced draft it hopes can win adoption later this month, the South Pacific nation said. The revised text drops a proposed registry of “loss and damage” suffered by countries but still urges states to comply with obligations set out in last year’s International Court of Justice advisory opinion and calls for a “rapid, just and quantified phase‑out of fossil fuel production and use.”

Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s minister for climate change adaptation and the architect of the resolution, said the changes were a reluctant compromise intended to keep the measure alive in the face of determined opposition from the Trump administration. “The U.S asked us to withdraw the resolution, which is disappointing, and pushed back on the language,” Regenvanu said, adding he hoped the concessions on the registry would allow the resolution’s other language to survive and that it would pass “with more than just a simple majority.”

Washington has taken an unusually interventionist stance, instructing embassies and consulates last month that the proposal could “pose a major threat to US industry” and urging Vanuatu to drop the draft. U.S. officials have described the resolution — which seeks implementation of the ICJ’s opinion that states bear obligations to address climate harms and could face reparations — as non‑binding, but potentially legally and politically awkward for major emitters.

The most significant cut in the new draft is the removal of the registry that would have required countries to account for losses from storms, floods, droughts and other climate impacts. That measure was fiercely opposed by Washington and other large fossil fuel‑producing states, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, which have long resisted mechanisms they say could expose them to liability for historical emissions. Vanuatu’s pared‑down text retains language calling on UN member states to “comply fully with their obligations under international law as they relate to climate change” in line with the ICJ opinion and to pursue a rapid phase‑out of fossil fuels.

Vanuatu has rallied a coalition of supporters behind the resolution — including the Netherlands, Colombia, Barbados, Kenya, Jamaica and the Philippines — but Regenvanu warned that opposition has so far been more effective than backing from allies. He said the European Union had not been as helpful as expected in countering the pushback, and voiced frustration at what he described as active interference by the Trump administration in international efforts to curb fossil fuel use. “Having the Trump administration actively intervening in the market to stop the phase‑out of fossil fuels is very frustrating,” he said.

The ICJ advisory, issued last year, gave new legal momentum to vulnerable island nations by clarifying state duties in the face of climate harms. While the resolution itself would be non‑binding, supporters say its adoption would help build a body of international opinion and practice that could strengthen future accountability and reparations claims when political conditions change. Opponents argue it goes beyond the remit of a political declaration and could be used to pressure major emitters.

A UN vote is expected later this month. For Vanuatu and its backers, securing even a watered‑down text would mark a symbolic win and a step toward translating the ICJ’s opinion into broader international norms — a process that proponents say is essential even if the current U.S. administration signals it may ignore the outcome.