CD (Portland) — The South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu promoted a proposal for a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty to COP27, the United Nations’ annual climate change conference.

“We all know that the leading cause of climate crisis is fossil fuels,” Kausea Natano, prime minister of Tuvalu, told global leaders at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. “It’s getting too hot and there is very [little] time to slow and reverse the increasing temperature. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize fast-acting strategies.”

By formally endorsing the creation of a treaty, said the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, Tuvalu is “proactively seeking solutions to phase out fossil fuels and offer hope to its population and the world.”

Tuvalu has thus become the second nation to endorse a treaty which would approach the extraction of fossil fuels as a danger as grave as nuclear weapons, which are the focus of a nonproliferation treaty signed by nearly a hundred countries.

Vanuatu proposed a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty at the UN General Assembly in September, and advocates celebrated last month when the European Union overwhelmingly passed a resolution formally endorsing the treaty—one year after lawmakers had voted it down.

Following Natano’s statement at COP27, environmental scientist Amy Clarke tweeted that “there is an inexorable move towards” a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty.

Such a treaty would ban the proliferation of coal, oil, and gas by ending all new production and extraction projects; phase out existing production; and ensure a just transition toward renewable energy that would “enable economic diversification” and “support every worker, community, and country.”

Despite the support of the European Union, along with dozens of international cities, the World Health Organization and nearly two hundred other global health groups, and more than a hundred Nobel laureates, in addition to Vanuatu and Tuvalu, the Washington Post reported to its readers that Natano’s call “didn’t get much engagement” from the assembled leaders at COP27.

Beyond the gatekeepers of the US mainstream media, however, Natano’s call was warmly welcomed in some circles.

“Pacific leaders continue to show what true climate leadership looks like,” said climate activist Brianna Fruean. “From their key role in the Paris Agreement, to the fight to limit warming to 1.5 degrees, to the historic endorsement of the fossil fuel treaty today.”

“You may have heard the phrase ‘1.5 to stay alive’ from young Pacific people at COP27 this year,” Fruean added. “This is not an exaggeration or a catchy slogan, our very survival depends on whether or not leaders display the bravery and the political will to do everything in their power to limit us to 1.5 degrees of warming.”

Caroline Lucas, a member of UK Parliament representing the Green Party of England and Wales, denounced the Conservative-led government on Twitter, declaring that “island states like Tuvalu, hardest hit by the climate emergency, are demanding a fossil fuel treaty. Our government should support them. Instead, it’s giving go-ahead to new North Sea oil, failing to rule out the Cumbria coal mine, and dishing out vast fossil fuel subsidies.”

COP27 is being held on the heels of several devastating reports by global climate experts, who are warning that an urgent system-wide transformation is imperative to save the planet from potentially cataclysmic environmental impacts in the coming decades.

“Big ocean states have provided so much leadership to international policymaking,” said Harjeet Singh, political lead for Climate Action Network International. “Big ocean states pushed for the 1.5° Celsius target. They’ve pushed for loss and damage, and now they’re pushing for a fossil fuel nonproliferation treaty. This is the next necessary step in international climate policy for climate justice.”

Originally published at Common Dreams. Republished by cc by-sa 3.0. Minor edits for style and content.

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