Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that Australia will bypass international bodies to invest directly in its Asia and Pacific partners when it increases its climate finance commitments to $2 billion (US$1.5 billion). Morrison, who is attending COP26 with political leaders from Fiji, Tuvalu, and Palau, said he wants to cut out the red tape and bureaucracy to make sure the funding gets directly to where it’s needed within the Pacific region. “Now we’re not putting this through other worldwide institutions or other groups like this,” Morrison said at COP26 in Glasgow on Tuesday. “We’re doing this direct, because we want to make sure that the climate finance investments that Australians are making are being invested in our backyard amongst our Pacific Island family and amongst our South East Asian partners and friends.” The prime minister said the funding would assist countries in the region to reduce their own carbon emissions and …