Article: Pacific Island domestic shipping emissions abatement measures and technology transition pathways for selected ship types

Abstract

This paper reports on initial assessments of applicability and availability of potential abatement measures for Pacific domestic shipping scenarios that are being considered for emissions abatement for common Pacific Island vessel types. The studies have been undertaken to inform the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership (PSBP), an initiative led by Fiji and Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) to catalyse a multi-country transition to sustainable, resilient, and low-carbon shipping, drawing down to zero-carbon domestic shipping in participating Pacific Island Countries (PICs) by 2050, with a 40% reduction achieved by 2030. The PBSP, in turn, is a product of an action research discourse and theory of change project underway since 2012, and involving academies from the region and international counterparts. The studies add evidence to the assumptions that decarbonisation pathways for Pacific domestic shipping are sufficiently unique to require a bespoke and tailored solution for PICs; and the required transition is best led by a country-driven coordinated programme of work with a significant blended finance investment. A sufficient range of options exists with known measures to assume the initial target set by Fiji and RMI of 40% overall emissions reduction by 2030 is technically attainable and exceed-able, dependent on financial and capacity availability (which is not considered further in this paper). If demonstrable at Pacific domestic scenario scale, lessons learnt will have direct relevance to a number of other island, archipelagic, and coastal locales globally. Findings are preliminary only, reflecting the immature state of knowledge in this field and for this target, and are expected to be updated periodically as the science evolves.

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