Fiji’s Government has launched a five-year plan to build the machinery it needs to sell verified emissions reductions overseas, with the stated aim of completing the country’s first international carbon trade by 2030. The Five-Year Costed Carbon Market Plan (2026–2030) was released in Nadi on the opening day of Pre-COP31, the preparatory meeting for the 31st UN Climate Change Conference, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua and Papua New Guinea’s Post Courier.
Key facts
- The document: the Five-Year Costed Carbon Market Plan 2026–2030, costed at FJD$5.2 million.
- Where and when: launched on the opening day of the Pacific Pre-COP31 in Nadi, on Monday according to Xinhua.
- The target: to enable Fiji to complete its first international carbon trade by 2030.
- Who wrote it: the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, with the Ministry of Forestry and the conservation group Conservation International, as reported by the Post Courier.
- What it covers: regulation, technical capacity, institutional arrangements and market infrastructure, in Xinhua’s summary.
- The ask: the Government has called on development partners to support implementation.
Why it matters
Taking part in international carbon markets could mobilise additional climate finance for Fiji, Xinhua says, naming renewable energy, sustainable forestry, waste management, resilient livelihoods and the protection of natural ecosystems as the areas that stand to draw money. The Post Courier frames the same opportunity as new investment and adds forests and mangroves to the list.
Both accounts describe the plan as preparatory rather than transactional: nothing has been sold, and the first trade sits at the end of the plan period.
How Article 6 trading works
Neither outlet names the mechanism Fiji intends to use, so it is worth setting out what the Paris Agreement itself provides. Two routes exist, both governed by rules governments finalised at COP29 in Baku in 2024. Article 6.2 allows bilateral deals in which one country sells internationally transferred mitigation outcomes, or ITMOs, to another, with both sides reporting the transfer to the UN climate secretariat. Article 6.4 creates a centralised, UN-supervised crediting mechanism — the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism — with its own methodologies and a supervisory body that approves projects and issues credits. Either way, reductions must be measured, independently verified and authorised by the host government before they can change hands, which is broadly the apparatus Fiji’s plan is designed to assemble.
Xinhua places Fiji’s intended participation under the Paris Agreement without specifying an article, and neither report explains how a Fijian trade would be verified or registered. The agency adds that the plan doubles as a fundraising instrument, giving the Government a framework to approach development partners, donors and potential carbon buyers for financial and technical support. No partner, donor or buyer is identified. Conservation International, credited as a co-author, is not quoted in either account.
Communities and resource owners at the centre
Minister for Rural, Maritime Development and Disaster Risk Management Mosese Bulitavu, named in both reports, put the emphasis on who ends up with the money. “For Fiji, carbon markets must be about more than trading carbon,” he said in remarks carried by the Post Courier, adding that they must deliver real climate action, unlock new and sustainable sources of climate finance, and ensure benefits reach communities and resource owners. In Xinhua’s version he said Fiji needs the systems, safeguards and partnerships to participate while protecting its national interests.
The plan places communities and resource owners at the centre of Fiji’s carbon market development, the Post Courier says, with a focus on fair benefit-sharing, safeguards and resilient livelihoods.
That framing lands at a meeting where questions of who gets a hearing have already surfaced, from youth and women’s groups pressing for seats at the Nadi talks to villagers who brought relocation stories to Pre-COP31.
The price tag, and a disagreement over the US figure
Both outlets put the cost of the plan at FJD$5.2 million, but their US dollar conversions differ: US$2.6 million in the Post Courier, about US$2.3 million in Xinhua. Neither breaks the FJD$5.2 million down by activity or year, and neither says how much of it is already funded.
For readers tracking the figure, Fiji News covered the launch of the FJD$5.2 million carbon market plan at Pre-COP31 as it happened.
Background and open questions
The Post Courier situates the plan within Fiji’s broader effort to mobilise climate finance and strengthen its capacity to respond to climate change while protecting natural ecosystems. Beyond that, the two accounts do not cover earlier Fijian carbon market work, previous trades or attempts, or any legislation needed to give the framework legal force.
Nor do they set out what happens next: no interim milestones, consultation rounds or implementing agencies are named for the years between this week’s launch in Nadi and the 2030 target. This report draws on the two published accounts cited above, plus the Paris Agreement’s own Article 6 provisions for the mechanics of carbon trading; it will be updated if Fijian officials or the plan’s co-authors release further detail.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is an international carbon market?
Xinhua describes international carbon markets as arrangements that let countries generate and trade verified emissions reductions. The Post Courier puts it in similar terms, saying verified cuts in greenhouse gas emissions can be traded, which opens a route for Fiji to attract climate finance for projects that reduce emissions and protect natural ecosystems.
What is a "corresponding adjustment" and why does it matter for Fiji?
Under the Article 6 rules agreed by governments at COP29 in Baku in 2024, a country that sells an emissions reduction abroad must make a corresponding adjustment: it adds the sold tonnes back to its own emissions account so the buyer and seller cannot both count the same cut towards their national climate targets. In practice that means revenue from a carbon trade can come at the cost of Fiji’s own Nationally Determined Contribution arithmetic, which is one reason the accounting and registry systems in the plan matter as much as finding a buyer. Neither Xinhua nor the Post Courier addresses this trade-off.
Has Fiji said how much revenue carbon trading could bring in?
No. The only money figure disclosed in either report is the FJD$5.2 million cost of the plan itself. Neither account carries a projection of credit volumes, prices or expected earnings from a first trade.
