‘Immoral and unacceptable’: Tuvalu calls on Australia to set urgent deadline to end fossil fuels

Agreement ratified by Tuvalu prime minister, Feleti Teo, and Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, recognises that the Pacific island nation commits the two countries ‘to work together in the face of the existential threat posed by climate change’. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Tuvalu’s climate minister has declared that “opening, subsidising and exporting fossil fuels is immoral and unacceptable”, just a day after Australia ratified a climate and security deal with the low-lying Pacific nation.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, welcomed the agreement with Tuvalu on Wednesday, saying Pacific island countries were “fully aware of the commitment that we have to climate action” but gas would continue to play a role.