alm trees and sand are see from the lagoon back to the shore in Funafuti, Tuvalu [Source: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas]

Tuvalu has branded fossil fuel expansion a “death sentence” at a meeting of Commonwealth of Nations leaders in Samoa, saying richer countries like Australia are responsible for most new projects.

Prime Minister Feleti Teo released a report pointing the finger at Australia, Canada and the UK for historically accounting for more than 60 per cent of emissions embedded in fossil fuel extraction among member nations.

“This trend continues with oil and gas projects under development, with upper- and upper-middle-income Commonwealth countries accounting for over 70 per cent of emissions in new projects,” it states.

“The wealthiest Commonwealth countries – Australia, Canada and the UK – have and continue to benefit the most from oil and gas developments but can also most easily absorb reductions in fossil fuel production.”

Australia was “highly morally obliged” to take further action to reduce emissions and phase out fossil fuels, he said, with rising sea levels an existential threat to smaller Pacific Islands nations.

Mr Teo wants to leverage a treaty between the two nations to pressure Canberra to do more on climate change.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong acknowledged the concerns of Pacific Islands nations, saying the world needed to work together to reduce coal and gas with India and China combining for 40 per cent of global emissions.

Australia was undertaking a large-scale transition to renewable energy but had lagged due to stalled investment from previous coalition governments, she said.

“We all understand the existential threat that climate change poses to the peoples of the Pacific,” she told reporters in he Samoan capital Apia on Thursday.

“In order for us to have a chance at restraining both global temperature rise, we all have to commit to reducing emissions and to transitioning to cleaner energy.”

The foreign minister announced a partnership for climate-responsive agriculture to be developed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research to address food security in Africa.

“It leverages a particular Australian expertise into a continent for which food insecurity is an ongoing and rising challenge,” she said.

“One of the things Australia is good at is agriculture in very dry climates.”

She joined a roundtable with Commonwealth counterparts and met with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss partnering to develop an investment network to help smaller states access finance.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived alongside King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Thursday afternoon for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The King will preside over what will be his first Commonwealth meeting since taking the throne and directly following a royal tour of Australia.

Mr Albanese will attend a reception and banquet during the evening to be hosted by Samoan officials.

Pacific expert Meg Keen said the meetings “aren’t transformational” but within the Commonwealth of Nations, the Pacific would be looking to build on connections to other regions and draw attention to rising sea levels.

“That’s not trivial, there’s 56 countries – about a third of the world’s population – there are not only leaders, there are key decision makers and, of course, there’s media,” Dr Keen told AAP.

Pacific nations would be looking to raise concerns before the COP environment conference in November and gather support for an International Court of Justice case on obligations states regarding climate change, she said.

Professor Jioji Ravulo, who specialises in Pacific communities, also framed climate as the main issue but said it was important Australia used its diplomatic clout to elevate regional voices.

Issues of gender equality, poverty and economic development “all come back to a common denominator, which is climate change”, he said.

While Canberra had a pivotal role in these conversations as a major regional voice, it should not use its weight to impose on Pacific partners and only operate “within the terms of what Australia wants”, Prof Ravulo said.