Rich countries must increase climate funding for vulnerable nations and take action against global warming, or some countries could resort to legal action, Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. warned in an AFP interview at COP31 on Tuesday.
Palau is a western Pacific country comprising more than 300 islands.
Along with other small island states in the region, it played a leading role in advocating for the 2025 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest court, which established that all states have a legal obligation to protect the climate or risk committing "an internationally wrongful act".
QUESTION: What do redress or reparations from climate harms look like for Palau?
ANSWER: "We need the world to realise that the path that we're on is unsustainable and there's consequences to making bad decisions. We want people to change their behaviour, to make good decisions for the planet and for the people that inhabit this planet, and that requires sometimes a big stick to get people in line, and that's what the ICJ is."
Q: Can it lead to countries suing historical large emitters?
A: "If actions aren't taken and promises aren't kept, that's what this mechanism allows us to do, is to sue those countries to get them to be accountable for their actions."
"And hopefully, that will bring about the change that we need and the action that we need through the financing that we need to make sure that those communities, those people that are affected are addressed."
Q: The ICJ mentions formal apologies as a form of remedy to climate harms. Is that something you'd like to hear?
A: "That is important, but more important than an apology is the change in behaviour. What we want to see is the changing behaviour and financing to meet those needs. And an apology should come with that."
Q: You said Palau has passed peak oil. How much money would it take for Palau to get to zero oil?
A: "We were looking at having some hydro, a mix of solar and batteries, about $500 million and then that will get us completely off the fossil fuel train. That's it"
Q: You're really ready to go back to court?
A: "Hopefully we don't have to go back, they're going to change and behave, but we are ready to go back, yes."
ico/phz
