Counsel for the
climate frontier
of the Pacific.

Overview

For obvious reasons of geography and exposure, the Fiji Islands have become one of the most active climate-and-environment jurisdictions in the Pacific. The country is among a small number of Pacific Island states with a standalone Climate Change Act 2021. It chaired COP23 in 2017. It issued the first sovereign green bond from an emerging-market jurisdiction. And it sits in the front line of climate-adaptation work — both the physical adaptation of coastal communities and infrastructure, and the legal architecture that supports that adaptation.

Our environment-and-climate practice covers the regulatory framework under the Environment Management Act 2005 and the Climate Change Act 2021, environmental-impact assessment work, renewable-energy project development, carbon-credit and Article 6 transactions, green and sustainability-linked finance, climate-resilient infrastructure documentation, and the corporate ESG advisory work that increasingly intersects with all of the above. We act for developers, financiers, multilateral funders, public-sector clients, statutory bodies and the international groups for whom Fiji is a strategic adaptation and energy-transition market.

The work is cross-practice by nature — drawing on our commercial, corporate, banking, real-property and litigation teams as required. For a small jurisdiction, Fiji is doing legally interesting climate work, and the matters we act on increasingly reflect that.

The regulatory framework

The Fijian environmental and climate framework rests on several principal statutes and regulatory instruments.

The Environment Management Act 2005

The Environment Management Act 2005 (EMA) is the principal environmental statute. It establishes the Department of Environment as the primary environmental regulator, provides the framework for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of development activity, and creates the offences and enforcement machinery applicable to environmental harm. The EIA process applies to a defined list of development categories and is a routine feature of substantial Fijian construction and resource projects.

The Climate Change Act 2021

Fiji is one of the few jurisdictions globally — and one of the only Pacific Island states — to have enacted standalone climate-change legislation. The Climate Change Act 2021 provides the framework for the country's Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement, establishes governance structures for climate-policy decision-making, creates the legal architecture for carbon-trading and Article 6 activity, and sets the framework for climate adaptation and loss-and-damage responses.

For commercial purposes, the Act's significance is increasingly practical — it establishes the legal infrastructure for emissions-related transactions, climate-finance structures, and the ESG and disclosure obligations that increasingly attach to substantial Fijian businesses.

Sectoral environmental regulation

Specific environmental regulation applies to particular sectors — mining (Mineral Resources Act, environmental compliance), fisheries (Fisheries Act, marine protection), forestry, water and waste — each with their own regulatory framework alongside the EMA.

Environmental Impact Assessment

The EIA process under the EMA is a routine but procedurally substantial requirement for development activity above prescribed thresholds. A typical EIA process involves:

• Screening — determining whether a particular activity requires a full EIA, a simplified assessment, or no formal assessment.
• Scoping — defining the matters to be addressed in the EIA, the stakeholders to be consulted, and the technical scope of the assessment.
• Assessment — preparing the EIA report, typically by an accredited consultancy, addressing the matters defined at scoping.
• Public consultation — including engagement with affected communities and (where applicable) iTaukei landowning units.
• Determination — by the Department of Environment, including any conditions attached to the approval.
• Compliance — ongoing compliance with the EIA conditions during the construction and operational phases.

Our role in EIA matters typically includes structuring the regulatory pathway, advising on the procedural requirements, coordinating with the technical consultants, preparing the legal sections of the assessment, supporting the public consultation, and (where required) representing clients in challenges to or by the regulator on EIA outcomes.

Renewable energy

Fiji's electricity generation has historically been a mix of hydroelectric (centred on the Monasavu scheme), diesel and other thermal generation. The transition to a higher share of renewable generation is a stated national policy priority and a substantial source of legal work.

The principal renewable-energy categories we see in Fiji include:

• Hydroelectric — the legacy Monasavu scheme, smaller-scale hydro projects (Wainikasou, Nadarivatu and others), and run-of-river developments at various stages of project development.
• Solar — utility-scale solar farms, distributed solar generation for hotels and resorts (a growing segment), and rooftop residential solar.
• Geothermal — exploration activity in the volcanically active regions of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, with the long-term potential for substantial baseload renewable capacity.
• Wind — exploratory work at various sites, though slower to develop than solar.
• Hybrid systems — combining renewable generation with battery storage and (sometimes) diesel back-up, particularly for off-grid and island applications.

The legal work on renewable-energy projects spans the lifecycle: project structuring and joint-venture documentation, land arrangements (often involving iTaukei lease consent for the underlying site), power-purchase agreements with Energy Fiji Limited or with off-takers, regulatory consents (EIA, generation licence, sector-specific approvals), construction contracting, project finance, and the operational arrangements supporting long-term electricity sales.

Carbon & climate finance

The Climate Change Act 2021 provides the framework for Fiji's engagement with international carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Article 6.2 allows for bilateral transfers of mitigation outcomes between countries; Article 6.4 provides the framework for a centralised crediting mechanism. Fiji's position as both an emitter and a sink (forests, marine ecosystems, coral reefs) creates a range of potential market opportunities.

The principal climate-finance instruments we see operating in or relating to Fiji include:

• Sovereign green bonds — Fiji issued the first emerging-market sovereign green bond in 2017, demonstrating the country's capacity for innovative climate finance.
• Sustainability-linked finance — corporate facilities priced by reference to sustainability KPIs, increasingly seen in the major Fijian businesses.
• Green Climate Fund and multilateral climate finance — Fiji has been an active recipient of climate finance from the Green Climate Fund, the World Bank Climate Investment Funds and other multilateral channels.
• Voluntary carbon credits — particularly from forestry, agriculture and blue-carbon (marine and coastal) projects.
• Loss-and-damage finance — a relatively newer category but increasingly relevant given Fiji's position as a climate-vulnerable state.

The legal work on climate-finance instruments combines project documentation, transaction structuring, regulatory engagement and (in the case of carbon credits) the specialised work of standards verification, registry transactions and the corresponding adjustment framework under Article 6.

Marine & coastal

Fiji's marine and coastal environment is both a fundamental feature of the country's economy (tourism, fisheries) and one of the most exposed assets in climate-vulnerability terms. The legal framework governing marine and coastal activity is substantial, drawing on the EMA, the Fisheries Act, the Marine Spaces Act, and the various conservation frameworks (Marine Protected Areas, conservation areas, traditional fishing-rights arrangements).

The work we encounter in this area includes marine-development EIA work, coastal-infrastructure documentation (seawalls, port works, jetties), aquaculture and fisheries arrangements, marine-protected-area transactions, and the cross-cutting work that arises when marine ecosystems are at the centre of broader development activity.

Mining & resources

Mining in Fiji — principally gold (Vatukoula and various exploration projects) and aggregate — operates under the Mineral Resources framework alongside the EMA. The legal work in this area combines the substantive mining-law framework (licences, royalties, native-title considerations) with the environmental-compliance work that runs throughout the project lifecycle.

The intersection between mining and indigenous land — the iTaukei land regime applies to a substantial portion of Fiji's land surface, including many mining areas — adds a distinctive dimension to the regulatory and consent work. Where we act in this area, the iTLTB engagement is typically central to the project structuring.

ESG advisory

ESG considerations have become a substantial feature of substantial Fijian businesses — driven both by international investor expectations, by the country's climate-policy position, and by the regulatory direction of travel under the Climate Change Act 2021 and related instruments. We provide ESG advisory to corporate clients on:

• Disclosure obligations — including climate-related financial disclosure for listed companies, sustainability-reporting frameworks and the various voluntary commitments increasingly seen in the Pacific corporate community.
• Governance arrangements — including board-level oversight of sustainability matters, sustainability-committee charters, and the integration of ESG considerations into risk-management frameworks.
• Transaction-specific ESG work — including due diligence on acquisition targets, ESG warranties and indemnities, and the integration of sustainability considerations into transaction documentation.
• Climate-related litigation risk — including the evolving exposures around greenwashing, climate-related disclosure, and the substantive climate-litigation framework as it develops globally.

What we do

Frequently asked questions