After the storm: Mobilising climate finance in the Pacific

Monash Business School PhD candidate Corey Huber.

15 January 2026

When Tropical Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu in 2015, it destroyed communities and livelihoods. For Monash PhD candidate Corey Huber, it set him on a path to tackling one of the Pacific’s biggest climate challenges.

Monash PhD candidate Corey Huber had just finished two years of Peace Corps service on the island of Erromango when Tropical Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu on March 13, 2015.

The strongest storm yet recorded in the Southern Hemisphere, it flattened homes, displaced communities and devastated the island economy.

“A friend working on a climate change adaptation project funded through the Global Environment Facility asked if I was interested in joining the team, noting the project beneficiaries included my former community,” he said.

Keen to help, Mr Huber joined the project and has been working in the field of climate finance ever since.

Now a PhD candidate at Monash Business School’s PACT Research Centre, his research focuses on how to unlock private sector investment for climate projects in the Pacific.

Public funding won’t close the climate gap

The funding challenge facing climate action in developing countries is vast.

Under the New Collective Quantified Goal, agreed at the 2024 UN climate talks, developing countries require USD $1.3 trillion a year by 2035.

Only US$300 billion of that will come from governments.

Mr Huber said this shortfall makes private investment central to any credible climate response.

“The Pacific has some of the lowest rates per capita climate finance flows from private sector actors worldwide,” he said.

He warned that without action, the consequences will be widespread.

“This is especially relevant for those most vulnerable people and places, and the ecosystems that they depend on. With the collapse of the climate comes the collapse of human society as we know it.”

First-of-its-kind study on private climate finance

Rather than taking a broad regional view, Mr Huber’s work zooms in on a single Pacific Island Nation – Vanuatu.

His research will be the first of its kind to use a country-level case study to pinpoint the interventions needed to unlock private finance.

“These are critical issues in the climate change discourse and will help deliver better climate finance,” he said.

Professor Paul Dargusch, Mr Huber’s supervisor, said the research would offer practical insight into how climate finance policy translates on the ground.

“Mr Huber’s research will reveal the critical leverage points in climate finance policy and practice to enable greater private sector involvement, thereby enabling more effective use of climate finance in countries like Vanuatu that want sustainable economic development and to become more resilient to climate change,” Prof Dargusch said.

‘Being part of a movement greater than myself is a privilege’

For Mr Huber, who is enrolled in Monash Business School’s Interdisciplinary PhD program, the most rewarding part of his PhD has been the people he has met.

“I’ve had the immense privilege to meet some of the most interesting individuals,” he said.

“Folks who possess a beautiful combination of intellect and passion and kindness - the type of people who you want to see in positions to help advance global public goods. I will forever be grateful to call many of them my peers and friends.”

And while balancing work and study had been a challenge, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I find purpose in contributing, even in a very small way, to helping address the adverse impacts of the climate crisis,” he said.

“Being part of a movement greater than myself is a privilege.”

Learn more about Monash Business School's Interdisciplinary PhD program