Enviro News Asia, Sydney – In a pivotal moment on the road to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, political leaders, civil society representatives, Indigenous elders, climate experts, activists, and artists from across Oceania have called for concrete action to honor global climate agreements. Their appeal was made during the Oceania Regional Dialogue of the Global Ethical Balance (BEG), held in Sydney on Monday (15 September).
The 26 participants highlighted both progress and significant gaps in climate action across the region, while underscoring the mounting impacts of global warming on Oceania’s communities and ecosystems. The dialogue is one of six regional meetings inspiring social mobilization toward COP30, aimed at keeping global temperature rise below 1.5ºC.
The fifth BEG dialogue brought together prominent international figures, including Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva (joining remotely), former Kiribati President Anote Tong, COP30 CEO Ana Toni, COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev (joining remotely), as well as diplomatic representatives from Brazil and Germany in Australia.
Marina Silva stressed that most technical solutions for ecological transformation are already available but emphasized the need for ethical commitment to ensure their implementation. “Our greatest challenge now is to apply an ethic that guides real action, so that the decisions we have made are carried out to prevent further imbalance on our planet,” she said.
Ana Toni noted that BEG provides moral strength for COP30 negotiators. “In Belém, we must have the courage to do what is right,” she stated.
Mukhtar Babayev underscored the importance of accountability. “This dialogue is about ethics—about ensuring that moral duty guides climate diplomacy. Donor countries must be held accountable for the promises made from Rio to Paris, from Baku to Belém and beyond,” he said, referring to the agreed goal of increasing climate financing from US$300 billion to US$1.3 trillion annually by 2035.
The BEG initiative is rooted in the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement, concluded at COP28 in Dubai. Previous dialogues have taken place in London (Europe), Bogotá (Latin America and the Caribbean), New Delhi (Asia), and Addis Ababa (Africa). The final regional dialogue is scheduled for North America, co-led by Karenna Gore, founder of the Center for Earth Ethics.
By blending science, Indigenous knowledge, and grassroots climate solutions worldwide, BEG seeks to chart a sustainable and just future built on climate justice and ethical responsibility.
The Sydney dialogue, hosted at the Greenhouse Tech Hub, was supported by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
Amid challenging geopolitical dynamics, Oceania’s voice at BEG sends a powerful message: the world already has the solutions—what’s needed now is the ethical courage to honor its commitments. (*)
