A milestone was achieved for SCCI – with the assistance of Market Development Facility and Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, SCCI soft launched its Renewable Energy Report 2024 at its March Members Meeting.

The official address, made by Australian High Commission First Secretary Mr. Greg Furness, shared Australia’s pride in playing a small supporting role to Samoa and the Pacific region in their climate resilience journey. “Climate change and resilience is a shared challenge, a regional and global challenge, as such, it is formally a stated priority for the Australia- Samoa partnership.”, said Mr. Furness, reiterating the challenges faced, the Pacific’s growing vulnerability to climate change and its impacts, in particular on the business community.

SCCI President Fa’aso’otauloa Sam Saili shared the primary objective of the report, which was to gauge businesses’ views on climate change impacts, current sustainability practices and perspectives on renewable energy sources such as solar sources and electric vehicles. The findings of the report showed that weather events significantly affect business operations, in particular tropical cyclones, heavy rains and floods. Mr. Saili reported, “… these weather conditions have damaged infrastructure and interrupt productivity resulting in significant financial losses and underlines the vulnerability of businesses to climate change impacts”. It was also key to note businesses proactiveness in responding to climate change by implementing adaptative strategies such as recycling and waste management, solar lights and construction of seawalls to counter some of the impacts. The report also indicated the need for government assistance, capacity building opportunities and increased awareness to ensure initiatives are driven in both the public and private sector. SCCI will continue to advocate to the Government of Samoa for this assistance to support renewable energy adoption among MSMEs.

The SCCI President extended his gratitude to DFAT and Market Development Facility (MDF) for the funding assistance and support in producing this milestone document for Chamber; Chamber has been working closely with MDF Country Coordinator Susan Inu and the MDF team during this activity and their attendance at the launch strengthens the partnership for future collaboration. We also acknowledge the Government of Samoa and NZ MFAT for the ongoing work to green the Samoan energy sector.

The report was officially launched at the meeting, providing attendees with a QR code to access the online report.