From Commitments to Implementation: Strengthening Climate Data Systems in the Pacific

The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) contribute only 0.03% of the world’s total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, yet they bear severe climate impacts and are among the most vulnerable countries. Rising sea levels, intense extreme weather events, and compounding risks from institutional fragilities deepen economic damage and trigger cascading effects for these countries. Therefore, 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement is a non-negotiable for the Pacific Island Countries.

At the same time, PICs have emerged as first responders, driving important milestones in climate action and advancing ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs) under the Paris Agreement's Enhanced Transparency Framework. Many Pacific Island Countries are already targeting 100% renewable energy, over 90% energy efficiency goals, and carbon neutrality by 2050.

However, Pacific Island countries face persistent constraints in data systems, institutional capacity and digital infrastructure needed to sustain credible measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) - a foundational enabler of climate ambition. Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands - few of the early Pacific Islands to submit their first BTRs reported limited historical data and data availability, including insufficient institutional and technical expertise in GHG inventory and MRVs at the both national and subnational level. They highlighted the need to strengthen data systems and institutional capacity in order to enhance climate data reportage that allows targeted assessment.

For many Pacific countries, credible climate data will turn conditional ambition into financed and verifiable action, and enable building a system that produces credible data every two years without starting from scratch. 

Against this backdrop, the Asia LEDS Partnership (ALP), hosted by ICLEI South Asia, in partnership with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), convened a session on “Data-driven NDC Implementation in Pacific Nations" at the Pre-COP31 Stakeholder Program in Nadi, Fiji, on 6 October 2026.

National government representatives from Kiribati, Fiji, and Vanuatu, along with UN-Habitat, including, Tekimwau Otiawa Tabunawati, Senior Climate Change Officer, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Management Division, Office of Te Beretitenti (President), Republic of Kiribati; Reshma Ram, Principal Climate Change Officer, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Republic of Fiji; Devo Wari, Senior Decentralization Policy Officer, Department of Local Authorities, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Republic of Vanuatu; Bernhard Barth, Programme Coordinator, Climate Change and Urban Environment Section, Global Solutions Division, UN-Habit; Emani Kumar, Deputy Secretary General – ICLEI and Lead Director, Asia LEDS Partnership; and Soumya Chaturvedula, Director, ICLEI South Asia/ Asia LEDS Partnership, joined a panel discussion to share their live experiences and perspectives on data-driven NDC implementation.

Key Takeaways:

- A measurement framework needs a baseline. Across Pacific Island countries, MRV frameworks exist, but implementation has stalled because they lack GHG inventory tools built for the local context of the countries. Without that baseline, reporting against a global framework is challenging. The gap recurs across the region.

Kiribati shows how the gap can be closed through its national GHG inventory — a fully customised, nationally hosted digital tool for tracking, calculating, and reporting GHG emissions.

- Tools last when institutions carry them. In Kiribati, the Office of the President manages the GHG Emissions Inventory. It is hosted on government infrastructure and a standard operating procedure governs data collection. Clear institutional roles strengthen accountability, data suppliers are separate from reviewers, and approval moves up to director and secretary level.

Similarly, Fiji has appointed a digital transparency tool that brings together GHG inventory, NDC tracking, and climate finance tracking. Fiji's Climate Change Act 2021 further reinforces this institutional framework as it requires line ministries to provide data.

- National Systems Are Only as Strong as Local Capacity. Vanuatu already has GHG inventories, MRV systems, and an NDC 3.0 for 2025–2035 with measurable targets. There, local data is already feeding into national processes. The challenge is therefore not simply establishing another national system, but strengthening the capacity of local authorities to contribute to it effectively. Municipalities and provinces generate much of the data needed for national reporting and are responsible for delivering actions that contribute to national targets, yet they often lack the capacity to identify which data has climate value and to analyse it for planning and reporting.

- Credible data turns conditional ambition into financed action. Credible, well-governed data shows where emissions come from and whether action is working, helping decision-makers direct resources where they are needed. Eight of the 11 Pacific NDCs submitted so far take a strong urban perspective, but commitments must still become funded action. Hence, credible systems make it easier to attract and use climate finance.

Thus, the next-generation NDC implementation must connect national commitment, local implementation, and national data systems.