The Quad nations of Australia, India, Japan and the United States will set out new plans to tackle climate threats as they meet at the Tokyo summit today.
The climate crisis is existential for each of the four countries and for the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific Islands are particularly vulnerable; as the Pacific Island Forum’s Boe Declaration on Regional Security states, “climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific.”
After inaugurating a Climate Working Group at the Quad’s first-ever leader summit, in March 2021, the four countries have deepened and regularized cooperation on meeting the climate crisis. The Quad leaders will launch further efforts on green shipping, energy supply chains, disaster risk reduction, and the exchange of climate information services.
The Quad will broaden and elevate its work to combat climate change by inaugurating two ministerials in the coming months. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg plans to convene Quad Transportation Ministers and relevant stakeholders to accelerate the work of the Shipping Task Force, including progress toward developing Green Shipping Corridors among Quad countries. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm plans to meet with Quad Energy Ministers to catalyze Quad efforts to deploy clean hydrogen, minimize methane emissions, and develop a 10-Year Clean Energy Supply Chain Plan.
The Quad will cooperate on disaster risk reduction for extreme weather events, including through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), building on the Quad’s joint session on strengthening Indo-Pacific infrastructure and communities at the International CDRI conference.
Through the Quad Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Mechanism, Quad partners will be able to coordinate and mobilize the four nations’ civilian-led disaster assistance efforts, with support from civil defense and military assets when needed, to respond to disasters in the Indo-Pacific. The Partnership provides a framework for Quad partners to coordinate on joint disaster responses and develop a greater understanding of their respective HADR operations. Quad partners may provide joint or coordinated assistance as requested by an affected state in the crisis-alert, crisis-response, or post-crisis-review phases of a disaster. Quad partners will also be able to work together to improve crisis preparedness and early warning.
The Quad Climate and Information Service Task Force, dedicated to integrating and facilitating climate information services to the broader Indo-Pacific, will convene other Indo-Pacific countries at the September Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Brisbane, to share best practices and gauge user needs in the region.
The Quad will work to advance the development of clean hydrogen and clean ammonia fuels and launch a series of roundtables on mitigating methane emissions across liquified natural gas sectors. The Quad will also cooperate to enhance capacity in the broader Indo-Pacific region to participate in high-integrity carbon markets.
