The Marshall Islands is leading by example at the COP24 climate meeting in Poland as it launched its road map to decarbonise its electricity sector by 2050.
The Minister for the Environment is calling for ambitious action by all countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions as agreed on under the Paris Climate Agreement.
In his speech to the meeting David Paul said business as usual was simply not acceptable, describing the latest report by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change as a shocking wake-up call to the world.
He said over the next seven years, the Marshalls will go from a very modest two percent renewables, to over 50 percent renewables, cutting diesel use by half.
Mr Paul said the Marshall Islands was doing its full part to help solve the climate problem that it did not cause and he invited other nations to do more.
"We are also committed to taking real action. In September we published our long term strategy to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as well as to achieve climate resilience. We are only one of ten countries to have done so and the first island nation."
David Paul said the Electricity Roadmap means reducing energy losses in the diesel generation and distribution network, improving energy efficiency, and building large-scale wind and solar farms on the main islands of Majuro and Ebeye.
NZ stands with Pacific nations at COP24
New Zealand has told the COP24 meeting it has an extensive agenda of climate change action and is proud to stand with its Pacific partners who are most vulnerable to climate change.
In his speech at the summit, New Zealand's Climate Change Minister James Shaw said that his government was building a legal framework to deliver new emissions reduction targets for 2050 to limit warming to the 1.5 degree temperature rise threshold.
He said New Zealand had increased its climate change funding by 50 percent, with an allocation of US$206 million over the next four years and much of this was to be spent in the Pacific.
Mr Shaw said it was vital countries worked together at the Polish meeting to build a robust rulebook on climate, and that New Zealand with its Pacific neighbours were not giving up hope of bringing the Paris Agreement to life.