As Pacific high ambition pressure at IMO for a paradigm shift for international shipping decarbonization builds and we inch closer to a real price on shipping emissions, we turn back to how to organize a parallel shift for our domestic fleets.

In our latest technical working paper, MCST suggests alternative narratives for the governance, financing and technology transition pathways for the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership.

The speed and scale of transition required to implement our country’s NDC’s domestic maritime targets are unprecedented. It demands a complete revolution in technology and a paradigm shift in fleet management and operations as well as the financial investment and program delivery away from existing structures. A dedicated bespoke solution is required.

Our research considers a collective country approach with governance via a Ministerial Council of participating countries the most appropriate and efficient structure.

Central to PBSP’s design is the need for a country-owned and -driven program. In essence PBSP is a formal agreement between a number of states to:

• set a common objective via NDCs for their domestic shipping transition
• collaborate on setting national strategic policy and project priorities through National Action Plans to best advantage the collective Partnership
• agree to coordinate external no-regrets climate finance investment as a collective portfolio to best advantage the collective Partnership
• collaborate to build long-term in-country capacity and institutional strengthening to underpin the domestic maritime transition across the sector

For more information on the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership, click here.

 

Posted on - 2022-12-07

Meetings during the 79th Session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 79) and the Inter-Sessional Working Group on Greenhouse Gases (ISWG-GHG 13) are going to be key for Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) in ensuring a 1.5 agenda is built into the revised International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Strategy, which will be adopted during MEPC 80, in 2023.

A bundle of four submissions has been submitted to ISWG-GHG 13 and MEPC 79 in December, building up to MEPC 80.

Pacific high ambition delegations hard at work at IWSG-13

 

Marshall Islands, Tonga, Kiribati delegations debriefing at IMO HQ

Our 6PAC out in force at ISWG-GHG 13 at the IMO, London this week fighting for #onepointfive to stay alive. #ShippingNews #decarbonisation #equitabletransition #zeroby2050 #leavingnonebehind pic.twitter.com/bQEcF3d1Cy

— MCST-RMIUSP (@mcst_rmiusp) December 6, 2022

Click here to read the media release >>

Posted on - 2022-12-06

The 2nd IMO symposium on low- and zero-carbon fuels for shipping was held on 21 October at IMO’s London headquarters with the theme "Ensuring a just and inclusive transition towards low-carbon shipping". The event brought together more than 1,500 participants from Member States, IGOs, NGOs and the public. The needs of, and opportunities for, developing countries in the process of energy transition towards low/zero-carbon alternative fuels for shipping were a particular topic of discussion.

The particular challenges facing Small Islands Developing States were made plain in an impassioned and forthright presentation by Atina Schutz, a student researcher at the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport. Ms Schutz was addressing the Symposium from the Marshall Islands which, she reminded the audience, stands less than two metres above sea level and are the most vulnerable to climate change.

"I am in my early 20s, the generation that may pay the true cost of fossil fuels." She went on, "Time is not our friend...We have no choice; we must act decisively now. The investment opportunities for a responsible industry are enormous", she said, calling upon IMO to provide certainty of speed and trajectory of change using existing principles enshrined in international law to ensure an equitable transition.

 

Posted on - 2022-11-27