The Bezos Earth Fund announced more than $25 million in new ocean-conservation grants across five Pacific nations. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index valued Bezos at about $273 billion as of October 1, 2026. The grants aim to support protection and sustainable management across more than 625,000 square miles of ocean, as warming and acidification pressure marine ecosystems and local economies.
Who Pays for the Transition
Pacific countries spend up to 13 per cent of their GDP on imported fuels. Replacing diesel generation with solar, batteries and other renewable systems requires upfront investment, but the shift could improve energy security. In remote and island communities, solar-powered cold storage could cut post-harvest losses and electricity costs for farmers and fishermen in countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia, while supporting food security and incomes.
The regional funding gap is also on the agenda at COP31. Türkiye will host the conference in Antalya in November, with Australia due to preside over negotiations. Governments face demands to mobilize climate finance under the COP29 New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance and include the phase-out of fossil fuels in negotiation texts.
Up to 3,000 participants are expected in Fiji for a Pre-COP31 preparatory meeting backed by Australia and Pacific partners. A leaders’ summit is planned in Tuvalu. These meetings aim to amplify small island states’ voices; those countries face growing climate impacts despite contributing relatively little to global emissions.
Agreement on fossil fuels remains difficult. The New Delhi Declaration, endorsed at a BRICS leaders’ meeting in New Delhi last month, mentioned climate 34 times and said “fossil fuels will still play an important role in the world's energy mix, particularly for emerging markets and developing economies.” BRICS has expanded to 11 countries and accounts for 50 percent of the global population. Reaching consensus among 198 countries is difficult, particularly as the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Agreement.
Public Plans, Private Investment
The COP31 agenda includes electrification, clean-trade rules and Pacific climate finance. Electrification is growing in China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia; pairing it with renewable electricity could lower import bills and improve environmental outcomes. Businesses could invest in renewable-powered electrification in industrial export-led economies, while concessional finance and development assistance could help communities replace aging, expensive equipment.
Clean commodity corridors are emerging, including an Australia-to-Singapore green and digital shipping corridor and potential Australia-to-East Asia iron ore green corridors. Developing them requires common approaches to emissions measurement, product certification and infrastructure. COP31 could help coordinate carbon-reduction standards and green-trade rules. Work is also under way on a Net-Zero Framework for marine fuels under the International Maritime Organization; further progress in December would affect developments beyond shipping.
Australia says it aims to support the best possible outcomes for the Pacific, including finance through initiatives such as the Pacific Resilience Facility. Earlier this year, Australia and Fiji signed the Vuvale Union Treaty, recognizing links among climate, people, prosperity and peace. According to Trang Nguyen, the treaty’s message is that rising sea levels threaten Pacific nations’ existence and affect Oceania’s security and future prosperity.
Conservation Grants and Their Scale
The Earth Fund’s latest awards make up the second round of its $100 million Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity pledge, bringing awards under that commitment to $63.3 million. The initiative aims to help protect at least 30% of the region’s waters by 2030. The fund announced its first round, worth $37.5 million, in 2025.
Papua New Guinea is expected to use funding to create its first large offshore marine protected area, while Tonga is expanding protected areas. Other support will go to the Cook Islands’ Marae Moana ocean park and habitat-protection planning in Kiribati and Vanuatu. Some marine protected areas can prohibit fishing, mining and other extraction. The Earth Fund said 17 of the Pacific’s 22 countries are now working to protect or sustainably manage their waters following the awards.
The fund has awarded about $2.4 billion of the $10 billion Bezos pledged in 2020, leaving approximately $7.6 billion to distribute by the end of 2030. Bloomberg reported that grantmaking reached at least $400 million in 2026 after falling to $183 million in 2025. Kelly Levin, the organization’s chief of science, data and systems change, said the fund takes time to understand an area before deciding how to direct its money.
The World Meteorological Organization said in a July report that ocean warming and acidification affected marine ecosystems and local economies. The region had its second-warmest year on record in 2025, and marine heatwaves disrupted ecosystems and fisheries. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana said: “Across Asia and the Pacific, heat is intensifying multi-hazard risks, intersecting with food systems, public health, infrastructure and oceans, and placing new pressures on health and livelihoods.”