Labor wants tougher climate change action in Australia for the sake of Pacific Island neighbours but is standing firm against calls for a moratorium on new coal mines.
Despite setting a goal of 50 per cent renewables by 2030, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten doesn't want to halt investment in new Australian mines or large-scale expansions.
The moratorium was raised by Kiribati President Anote Tong - who has led the Pacific call - during a meeting with Mr Shorten on the exposed atoll of Tarawa.
But Labor isn't bowing to the pressure, instead promising to boost renewable energy and reveal stronger post-2020 emissions reduction targets.
Fossil fuels are part of our energy mix in Australia, Mr Shorten told reporters in Kiribati on Wednesday.
Kiribati is thought to be on the front line of climate change, with locals increasingly experiencing severe storms, drought, erosion, inundation and coral bleaching. Made up of a cluster of atolls across the same distance as Sydney to Perth, it is close to sea level and vulnerable to rising oceans.
Mr Tong says he's been talking about the issues for a decade but the message hasn't been getting through.
While Kiribati politicians are on a mission to stop climate change, immigration spokesman Richard Marles believes Australia should start preparing for the alternative - migration.
If the atolls continue to deteriorate, the 100,000 people who call it home would need somewhere to go and Australia, being Kiribati's largest aid donor, could bear responsibility.
"It's clear and evident when you tour these islands and you see how precarious life is here that there are obvious questions about the future of this country," Mr Marles said, adding Australia had obligations in the region.
Both Kiribati and the Marshall Islands have called on Australia to play a leading role and negotiate with them in mind at the United Nations climate change summit in Paris next month.
But Australia and New Zealand refused in September to sign an agreement by Pacific nations that the goal should be to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees, not the internationally-agreed target of two degrees.
Australia sits at the back of the developed-nation pack with its 2030 emissions reduction target of 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels, a goal Labor has criticised as too weak.
Australia also has large coal mines in the pipeline, including the Adani mine in Queensland and the proposed Shenhua mine in NSW's Liverpool Plains.
Mr Shorten wrapped up his climate-change focused tour of Pacific nations on Wednesday after four days of meetings in Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
