By Sam Spencer, CEO and co-founder, Aristotle Metadata

As I touched down on the island nation of Samoa for the 2024 Commonwealth Business Forum, the reality of climate change struck me with renewed urgency. Flying over this small island, it’s hard not to feel the looming threat of rising waters. As a country surrounded by thousands of miles of open sea, on an island you can see contained within a single plane window, the power of the ocean and the risks facing us all are very clear to see.

The Digital Backbone of the Pacific: An Invisible Network at Risk

At the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Samoa’s vulnerability to climate change and rising sea levels was a central topic. But there’s more to the story. Samoa, like many Pacific nations, serves as a crucial stopping point for the undersea internet cables that connect Australia to the wider global community. The Pacific Ocean is crisscrossed with submarine fibre-optic cables linking Australia to major hubs like the US, Japan and Singapore. And at the heart of these networks are critical junctions in Fiji, Samoa, Guam and Kiribati, among others.

These cables form the backbone of our digital infrastructure, an invisible but vital network that powers everything from international business to the everyday flow of information. Yet, a rise in ocean levels threatens to flood the data centres and infrastructure housed on these islands, putting Australia’s connectivity and data access at risk. A threat to these islands is a threat to Australia’s connectivity with the world.

Protecting Our Digital Sovereignty Amid Geopolitical and Environmental Challenges

During 2024 Commonwealth Business Forum, the topic of digital sovereignty and data accessibility took centre stage. How can we safeguard our digital infrastructure while allowing for efficient, safe communication with our neighbours? This question is critical for nations like Australia, which depend on this trans-Pacific network for much of our international connectivity.

How do we protect this vital infrastructure in the face of increasingly complex environmental and geopolitical risks? Rising sea levels could render large portions of our Pacific network inaccessible, cutting off Australia’s digital connection to the world. Moreover, each country has a duty to keep its citizens’ data secure—but in a globally connected world, this obligation must extend to a shared responsibility. As a region, we need to ensure that our data-sharing channels are resilient, secure and sustainable.

Shifting the Mindset on Climate Action from Urgency to Certainty

Henk Rogers, a business visionary known for bringing Tetris to the world, has shifted his focus to solving climate change through his Blue Planet Alliance. As he said at CHOGM, we need to pivot the conversation so that we are saying “of course we are solving climate change”. In other words we need to think of it as a done deal. We are solving climate change, because we know we must – because rising sea levels will have real risks on Australia’s data sovereignty and data accessibility. Henk’s words were echoed by Dino Otranto, CEO of Fortescue Metals, who recently spearheaded efforts to electrify their mining fleet. 

As Otranto pointed out, “We need a target, and we need to measure it.” Now more than ever when support for climate change is wavering internationally, for us to continue to progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement we need to plan for success and we need solid data to measure our progress to a net zero economy. The message from CHOGM was clear: the time for action is now, not merely to mitigate economic losses but to protect our digital and physical connections across the Pacific.

A Cross-Commonwealth Call to Secure Our Digital Future

The conversations at CHOGM underscored a pivotal moment in our shared digital history. Across the Commonwealth, there is an increasing awareness that climate change is not only an environmental issue but an economic one. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and shifting geopolitical landscapes threaten the core of our global digital network. While these challenges spur businesses and nations into action, the question remains: will this action be enough? Or is it too late to mitigate the damage sustained by our island neighbours, many of whom are already dealing with the harsh realities of climate change?

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