Australia’s Pacific neighbour Nauru is selling passports to help cover the costs of moving thousands of residents from low-level homes threatened by climate change-induced floods and rising sea levels.
The passports will cost a minimum of US$130,000 ($204,000) for a single applicant, US$137,500 ($216,000) for a family of two to four, or US$145,000 ($227,000) for a family of five or more.
The passport sales are part of the Nauru Economic and Climate Resilience Citizenship Program, which offers successful applicants a second citizenship and supports the island’s sustainable development.
Why is Nauru selling passports?
The citizenship program aims to support global mobility, enabling passport holders to have visa-free access to new destinations.
While many people who buy Nauru passports may never visit the Pacific country, they will be able to travel to other destinations including Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
It also aims to strengthen Nauru’s climate resilience initiative.
Like other small islands in the South Pacific, Nauru is particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. More than 80 per cent of Nauru’s land is considered uninhabitable, and it is facing more biodiversity loss and rising sea levels, which are threatening low-lying coastal areas.
To increase Nauru’s resilience, the government has established the Higher Ground Initiative (HGI) , which aims to migrate vulnerable homes and infrastructure to higher elevations.
It’s also working to expand local food production, restore degraded natural habitats and pioneer a new Pacific island urbanism.
According to Nauru’s Department of Climate Change and National Resilience, the HGI is a “generational undertaking” and “critical to long-term survival and viability of Nauru as a sovereign nation-state.”
It is described as Nauru’s “single most important climate adaptation action”.
What is Australia’s relationship with Nauru?
As close neighbours, Australia and Nauru have an ongoing relationship, and Australia is Nauru’s largest economic, security and development partner.
In December 2024, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President of Nauru David Waiau Ranibok Adeang signed the Nauru-Australia Treaty, which aims to help improve economic resilience and security.
Nauru is also home to an Australian offshore immigration detention facility, where asylum seekers who arrive by boat are sent.
In the 1960s, the Australian government proposed to relocate all Nauru residents to Curtis Island off the coast of Queensland.
This was due to the extensive damage done to Nauru through phosphate mining by Australian, New Zealand and British companies, which left much of the company devastated and led to scientists predicting it could become uninhabitable.
Australia would not release sovereignty over Curtis Island to Nauruans, but it would have allowed them to become Australian citizens.
Nauruans refused to go, and Nauru instead became an independent nation in 1968 and started operating its own mines.
Nauru is selling passports as a fundraiser to help meet the costs of climate change. Source: AAP / Ben McKay
How is Australia supporting Pacific nations facing climate change?
Nauru is one of several Pacific nations facing the devastating impacts of climate change, and Australia supports climate action in these areas through a series of initiatives and funding agreements.
These include the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific Phase 3, the Australian Humanitarian Partnership Disaster READY Program, and the Pacific Resilience Facility.
In 2023, Australia and Tuvalu also announced a bipartisan deal, under which Australia will take in 280 Tuvalu residents facing displacement from climate change each year.
Following the announcement, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said other nations in the region would be welcome to sign similar deals with Australia.
At the time, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Australia had a responsibility to ensure the Pacific did not become the least developed part of the world.
“This is a step which I hope will be welcomed within the Pacific because it does represent a very significant step up in Australia’s already significant engagement in the Pacific,” he said.
In 2024 representatives from the Alliance of Small Island States, which includes Nauru, briefly walked out of the COP29 climate summit during finance negotiations.
AOSIS represents nations that are particularly vulnerable to climate change and do not have the resources to deal with impacts.
After the walkouts, COP29 nations agreed to a $460 billion annual funding deal until 2025.
