---
title: "Science and technology in Pacific Island countries"
chunk: 5/6
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_Pacific_Island_countries"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:38:13.011932+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Energy ===
On average, 10% of the GDP of Pacific Island countries funds imports of petroleum products but in some cases this figure can exceed 30%. In addition to high fuel transport costs, this reliance on fossil fuels leaves Pacific economies vulnerable to volatile global fuel prices and potential spills by oil tankers.
Consequently, many Pacific Island countries are convinced that renewable energy will play a role in their socio-economic development. In Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu, renewable energy sources already represent significant shares of the total electricity supply: 60%, 66%, 37% and 15% respectively. Tokelau has even become the first country in the world to generate 100% of its electricity using renewable sources.
According to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, renewable energy still represented less than 10% of total energy use in the 22 Pacific Island countries and territories in 2015. The Secretariat of the Pacific Community observed that, 'while Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa are leading the way with large-scale hydropower projects, there is enormous potential to expand the deployment of other renewable energy options such as solar, wind, geothermal and ocean-based energy sources'.
International development partners are participating in several projects to develop renewable energy in the Pacific island states.

==== Cook Islands Renewable Energy Chart Implementation Plan ====
In the Cook Islands, for instance, the Asian Development Bank plans to supply electricity from renewable energy to all inhabited islands by 2020, within the Cook Islands Renewable Energy Chart Implementation Plan for 2012–2020. New solar photovoltaic power plants with lithium-ion batteries were being built on up to six islands of the Southern Group in 2014.

=== Fiji's Rural Electrification Fund ===
The Fiji Rural Electrification Fund will bring affordable solar power and battery storage to 300 rural communities that rely on diesel generators or are without electricity access. Initiated in 2018 and lasting ten years, this fund is a public–private partnership.

=== Vanuatu's National Green Energy Fund ===
To equip its National Energy Road Map 2016–2030, Vanuatu approved the National Green Energy Fund in 2016 with the goal of mobilising US$20 million to provide all households with access to electricity (primarily through individual solar systems) and to improve energy efficiency by 2030. In off-grid areas, households’ access to electricity increased from 9% in 2015 to 64.4% in 2017. The increase was attributed to investments in imported, plug-in solar home systems, supported by the Vanuatu Rural Electrification Project in 2016. However, the share of renewable energy in electricity generation declined from 29% to 18% over the same period, owing in part to a reduction in the use of biofuels in Vanuatu's largest electricity concession in Port Vila.

==== Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency ====
In April 2014, Pacific Ministers for Energy and Transport agreed to establish the Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, 'a first for the Pacific'. The centre will become part of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization's network of regional Sustainable Energy for All Centres of Excellence, along with centres for the Caribbean Community, Economic Community of West African States, the Southern African Development Community and the East African Community.
The Pacific Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency was established in Tonga in 2016 to advise the private sector on related policy matters, provide capacity-building and promote business investment. The centre facilitates a financial mechanism offering competitive grants for start-ups to spur the adoption of renewable energy by the business sector. The centre is part of the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres and SIDS DOCK framework designed to attract international investment in the renewable energy sector.

==== Renewable Energy in Pacific Island Countries Developing Skills and Capacity programme ====
Efforts are under way to improve countries’ capacity to produce, conserve and use renewable energy. For example, the European Union has funded the Renewable Energy in Pacific Island Countries Developing Skills and Capacity programme (EPIC). Since its inception in 2013, EPIC has developed two master's programmes in renewable energy management and helped to establish two Centres of Renewable Energy, one at the University of Papua New Guinea and the other at the University of Fiji. Both centres became operational in 2014 and aim to create a regional knowledge hub for the development of renewable energy.

==== Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy programme ====
In February 2014, the European Union and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat signed an agreement for a programme on Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy worth €37.26 million which will benefit 15 Pacific Island states. These are the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

=== Inclusion of traditional knowledge ===
Limited freedom of expression and, in some cases, religious conservatism discourage research in certain areas but the experience of Pacific Island countries shows that sustainable development and a green economy can benefit from the inclusion of traditional knowledge in formal science and technology, as underlined by the Sustainable Development Brief prepared by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community in 2013.

=== Renewable energy targets ===
As part of their Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, the Pacific Island countries are building national renewable energy systems. All 14 countries now have energy strategies, although some extend only to 2020. Nearly all place a strong emphasis on electricity generation using renewable resources.

== Scientific output in the region ==