LEADERS FROM POLITICS, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT, INDUSTRY AND CIVIL SOCIETY FIND COMMON GROUND TO RAPIDLY SCALE UP RENEWABLE ENERGY
Global Citizen Delivers Perth Declaration to Australia’s COP31 Negotiating Team, Urging Action on Renewable Energy Financing and Pacific Partnership
Global Citizen NOW: Perth Secures Renewable Electricity for 20 Million People Worldwide, Billions in Commitments to Electrify Our World, and New Commitments to Advance Indigenous-Led Renewable Energy and Water Projects Across Australia
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Perth, Australia, 20 October, 2026 // Over the last two days, Global Citizen NOW: Perth, the first-ever international summit focused on renewable energy solutions held in Western Australia, brought together influential leaders in government, business, finance, sports, entertainment, philanthropy, First Nations communities and civil society. The summit highlighted the urgent impacts of climate change, and spotlighted Western Australia's potential as a renewable energy powerhouse. Groundbreaking commitments were announced to expand reliable, affordable and renewable electricity to 4.8 million homes across the Indo-Pacific and around the world.
Hosted by Global Citizen, the world’s largest movement to end extreme poverty, Global Citizen NOW: Perth highlighted the real-life impacts of climate change on nations, communities and individuals, and urged industry and political leaders to prioritise the future of our planet and urgently build the clean industries of the future. Ahead of what Pacific Island leaders called the most important COP in history, they called for Pacific priorities to shape the decisions.
Together, commitments announced at Global Citizen NOW: Perth will expand electricity access to 4.8 million homes and deliver 3 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, exceeding the summit's goals of reaching up to 4 million homes and securing at least 2.5 gigawatts of new capacity.
Major Moments and Highlights from Global Citizen NOW: Perth –
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Sabrina Dhowre Elba and Michael Sheldrick, Co-Founder of Global Citizen, opened the summit, setting the goal of expanding reliable electricity access to more than 4 million homes, and noting that Western Australia has more clean energy projects in its development pipeline than any other Australian state with 33 clean industry projects. “Over the last few decades, this state has helped generate incredible wealth and prosperity around the world through its extraordinary resources. Now is an opportunity to lead the next chapter of the global energy transition, and that starts here in Western Australia,” said Michael Sheldrick.
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Hon. Roger Cook MLA, Premier of Western Australia, launched the Western Australian Investment Prospectus, inviting partners to invest in WA’s critical minerals and renewable energy industries and saying WA intends to play a major role in helping build industries like green iron.
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Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Director of the Department of External Relations at the Green Climate Fund, announced a major pipeline of climate investments developed with 14 Pacific countries. Subject to Board approval, it would mobilise US$1 billion, including US$250 million in Green Climate Fund grants, to strengthen climate-resilient infrastructure, protect coastlines and improve water security, benefiting an estimated 3.7 million people.
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Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the OECD, urged governments to turn climate targets into investable plans, speed up approvals for clean energy projects and keep trade open.
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The Perth Declaration was formally handed over to Australian Federal Government COP31 representatives, calling for accelerated climate finance, expanded renewable energy, a just transition from fossil fuels, and recognition of Pacific nations as equal partners ahead of COP31. The Declaration will track signatories’ progress annually to drive accountability and action.
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Hon. Dr Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s Minister for Home Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, announced that Pacific island governments have collectively pledged US$18.5 million to the Pacific Resilience Facility to date, giving these contributions a global platform.
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José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor-Leste, and Anote Tong, former President of Kiribati, spoke about energy security and climate impacts in the region, and called for faster access to climate finance. “What the international community has been good at is to create barriers, to create difficulties… From the moment they identify a project on the ground, it takes up to four years before you see the first funding,” said President Ramos-Horta.
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Glen Kelly, Chair of Biome, launched the Biome Coalition, which aims to identify the barriers to restoring country at scale in Western Australia. It brings together companies that need to buy carbon credits to create a strong demand signal for high-integrity, First Nations-led restoration projects, and Kelly called on companies with carbon or nature obligations to join.
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Stefan Löfven, former Prime Minister of Sweden, Fortescue CEO Dino Otranto and Hon. Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA, Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation, discussed Fortescue’s aim to decarbonise its Pilbara operations by 2030 and shared energy infrastructure in the Pilbara.
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Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, warned that small island states cannot afford complacency ahead of COP31. He said the cost of inaction is their survival, sovereignty, lives, livelihoods and dignity, and called for an urgent transition to renewables to build resilient prosperity. Gaston described the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting as the most important in its history.
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Tishiko King, Founder of Just Futures Collab and Ocean Advocate, spoke from the Pacific pre-COP, and called on Australia to listen to its own islanders as it leads the COP31 negotiations.
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Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia, urged Australia to lift its climate ambition by putting rooftop solar on every home, refining and manufacturing critical minerals at home, and powering new data centres with large-scale solar.
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John Butler, Artist and Activist, drew gasps and applause as he used the metaphor of a song to set out the contradictions and complexities of the energy transition. “All of these chords that are meant to go with the hopeful lyrics, they’re all ticking carbon bombs. This is not the rhythm I want to dance to,” he said.
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Zoisa North-Bond, CEO, Octopus Energy Generation, shared UK and European models that Western Australia could mirror. One is a “Fan Club” tariff giving people living closest to wind turbines up to 50 percent off their power bills. The other is “Zero Bills Homes,” built with solar, batteries and heat pumps and guaranteed no energy bills for 10 years.
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Ian Thorpe AM, five-time Olympic gold medallist and ocean advocate, called on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to share Australia’s leading reef restoration technology with Pacific neighbours, noting that for just over $2 million, a trillion coral polyps could be delivered anywhere in the world, ready to spawn.
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TransEnergy Global announced that the International Carbon Registry has approved, in principle and on a pilot basis, its coal abatement methodology, which creates value from keeping coal in the ground. The first pilot will be in southern Africa, with 5 percent of revenue reinvested in local renewable energy and just transition activities.
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The Four Directions Fund, the first global Indigenous-led renewable energy fund, committed to partner with the First Nations Clean Energy Network to advance up to five Indigenous-led renewable energy projects across Australia, aiming for at least 10 percent Indigenous ownership. It also aims to bring 1 GW of projects to ready-to-build status across Australia, New Zealand and the United States by 2029.
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Perth-headquartered Affinity Capital Group committed over the next five years to deliver more than 12 billion litres a year of new Indigenous-led, climate-independent water supply in WA, and to advance projects targeting at least 75,000 tonnes a year of new lithium production, building on its 9.2 GW renewable energy pipeline.
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Ninety One committed to grow its Emerging Markets Transition Debt strategy, backing clean energy in emerging markets with capital expected to help avoid 1 billion tonnes of emissions and support 3 GW of renewable energy.
“We came to Perth with a plan to secure commitments to bring renewable, clean energy to 4 million households around the world. Today, those commitments will reach 4.8 million households and impact 20 million people,” said Michael Sheldrick, Co-Founder and Chief Policy, Impact and Government Affairs Officer, Global Citizen. “This is about greater economic and energy security, job creation and pathways to prosperity that benefit people both in Australia and around the world. The journey doesn’t end here. This is hard work, but as Eleanor Roosevelt said, the way to begin is to begin.”
Global Citizen NOW: Perth’s carbon footprint was addressed through three commitments: Everland committed 2,000 tonnes of CO₂ carbon credits, and Envision contributed 10 tons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) credits that cut emissions directly within the aviation sector. TransEnergy Global also committed to donating and retiring Energy Transition Credits from its proposed coal abatement project in Botswana, subject to project validation, verification and credit issuance.
The gathering marked Global Citizen's return to Perth for the first time in 15 years, following the organisation's landmark End of Polio concert in 2011. Perth joins Global Citizen NOW's global circuit of host cities, including New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Sevilla and Johannesburg.
Global Citizen NOW: Perth is supported by presenting partner Western Australian Government, major partners Boundless Earth and Minderoo Foundation, and supporting partners Business Events Perth, City of Perth, CrossBoundary Energy, Curtin University, Forrest Research Foundation, Fortescue, Murdoch University, and The University of Western Australia. The summit was the culminating moment of Global Citizen's year-long global clean energy campaign, supported by the movement's international coalition of partners, including Octopus Energy Generation, Pele Energy Group, Enertrag and UBS Optimus Foundation. Global Citizen thanks the coalition of more than 35 civil society organisations who joined the summit to advance equitable access to clean energy, climate resilience and sustainable development.
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Global Citizen acknowledges the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation as the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which Global Citizen NOW: Perth and Global Citizen Nights: Perth were held, and we pay respect to Elders past, present and upcoming.
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About Global Citizen
Global Citizen is the world’s largest movement to end extreme poverty. Powered by a worldwide community of everyday advocates raising their voices and taking action, the movement is amplified by campaigns and events that convene leaders in music, entertainment, public policy, media, philanthropy and the private sector. Since the movement began, more than USD $50 billion in commitments announced on Global Citizen platforms has been deployed, impacting 1.3 billion lives. Established in Australia in 2008, Global Citizen operates in the US, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, the UAE, and across Asia. Join the movement at globalcitizen.org, download the Global Citizen app, and follow Global Citizen on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X and LinkedIn.
Press Kit
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