Tuvalu is at the frontline of climate change impact, with a maximum height of four metres above sea level. The issue of climate change and its far-reaching implications for nations like Tuvalu has been discussed for years but little has changed. If the current climate trajectory continues, Tuvalu is likely to be completely submerged in a matter of decades.  

Our challenge was twofold: help Tuvalu’s Minister Kofe deliver a wake-up call to world leaders during his COP27 speech and show the world what Tuvalu’s future will be like if sea levels continue to rise. To provoke action and cut through the news cycle surround COP27, we had to create a striking solution that demonstrated Tuvalu’s ambition to preserve its nation while raising awareness of the nation’s plight, ensuring that the public put pressure on world leaders to act and save the real Tuvalu – all with a $0 media budget. 

‘The First Digital Nation’ is a radical plan for Tuvalu to remain a country even when their land is gone. Under threat from sea-level rises, these proactive steps allow Tuvalu to shape their own future while there’s still time.

The haunting COP27 announcement, delivered from the first part of the digital nation is a chilling reminder of what our collective future might look like without climate action. For Pacifika nations like Tuvalu, connection to their land is everything. Every element of the chilling film, from the speech itself to its delivery from an ink-black digital void was designed as a sobering reminder that for Tuvaluan people, a digital home could never truly replace their real one.

‘The First Digital Nation’ is a plan for survival, and a provocation, designed to drive urgent conversation amongst the media and world leaders on climate action and climate mitigation.

Communicating Tuvalu’s situation and the heart-breaking decision to become the world’s first digital nation to world leaders relied on a coordinated PR approach.

With a confirmed spot at COP27, we created a film for maximum cut-through and directed people to a landing page. We captured their details for future communications while offering them an easy template to write to their own leaders, urging them to honor the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree target, (which no nation was on track to hit).

Knowing global support is needed to achieve digital statehood, we engaged local and global media to ensure our key message was amplified from the moment the story broke. Within 48hours we’d reached global coverage including mastheads The New York Times, AlJazeera, The Guardian and Politico and were trending on Twitter and TikTok. This reach was pivotal, we knew we might need to reach millions to affect the key people at COP27.

At the end of Minister Simon Kofe’s chilling COP27 address, delivered from the first part of the digital nation, viewers were asked to ‘Save the real Tuvalu’ at Tuvalu.tv.

There, visitors from over 140 nations were met with the provocative question “what happens to a country without land?”

Upon entering the website, they discover the beginnings of The First Digital Nation. Te’Afualiku islet – the first part of Tuvalu likely to be claimed by rising sea levels, appears in the centre. The website uses weather and tide API’s to reflect the local time and climate conditions at the islet.

The islet environment’s ‘half-finished’ look is designed to reflect the stages of upload and render. The black void beyond represents the empty metaversal space that is the last refuge of a nation with no physical place to go.

A window on the side reveals the ‘uploading’ queue of the sights, sounds and stories Tuvalu will embark on preserving online.

A prompt down the bottom urges visitors to “save the real Tuvalu”, where an online form allows visitors to pressure to their local Environmental Minister, and sign up for further updates.

Accurately recreated using images, maps, drone footage and unreal engine, the islet is modelled and lit in Cinema 4D. In the speech, the Minister filmed on location by a Tuvaluan team in front of green screen. Careful rendering of foliage and rock textures pay homage to Te’Afualiku’s real environment, with lighting and movement of foliage reflecting its weather.

As Minister Kofe warned: “Only concerted global effort can ensure that Tuvalu does not move permanently online, and disappear from the physical plane” Tuvalu.tv is a warning of what a future without climate action looks like.

So far, the launch film itself that lives on Tuvalu.tv has reached over 2.1bn people worldwide.

The Tuvalu announcement reached 2.1 billion people around the world with $0 spent on media. The film was only aired once at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) and achieved coverage in 186 ANZ media publications and 173 global publications, reaching key titles such as The New York Times, BBC, Reuters Global, The Guardian, CNN, ALJazeera, The World Economic Forum as well as trending on Twitter and TikTok. The Tuvalu.tv site, where all PR efforts were directed to, gained global traffic from 118 countries in less than 48 hours from campaign launch, with a final total of 140 countries. 

Once the media was alerted, Minister Kofe was able to further explain Tuvalu’s reality and appeal to the world via interviews and further news coverage. 

But Tuvalu’s announcement didn’t just drive conversation. It drove action. Our efforts to reach target audiences paid dividends, resulting in a landmark agreement to establish the first ever dedicated fund for loss and damage to pay for the destruction caused by climate disaster. It also provided context for Tuvalu’s ongoing fight for digital sovereignty. While 7 nations have now recognised their sovereignty, as we speak, Tuvaluan international lawyers are using the digital nation to argue for statehood to continue to exist as a nation without a physical territory – a step that allows them an ongoing voice on the world stage, international voting rights, and protection of maritime borders.