Marshall Islands, a nation at the heart of global shipping, fights for climate justice

Credit: KR

 

I went sailing on a bright yellow outrigger canoe in the Marshall Islands in March. On board were Alson Kelen, founder of Waan Aelõñ in Majel (WAM, Canoes of the Marshall Islands), and a group of youngsters taking part in a climate justice workshop.

Alson’s NGO is a hive of activity. Sailing ships, some finished and some under construction, surround an A-frame building right between the government-owned Marshall Islands Resort and the Ministry of Education on Majuro Atoll. Alson acquired the land decades ago from the country’s first president, Amata Kabua, for a symbolic dollar.

As we sailed, he told us his organisation’s work is about “empowering the young men and women of the Marshall Islands, endowing them with the skillset essential to bring them into the global society”. It’s keeping the traditions of shipbuilding and wayfaring alive, while offering fossil-fuel-free transport between the country’s islands.

As home to the world’s third-largest ship registry, the Marshall Islands is a key player in global shipping, while rising sea levels threaten its low-lying islands. This puts the country in a unique position in negotiations on new shipping emission targets.

Although WAM’s yellow outriggers might not make a dent in greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s cargo ships, these small – and larger – sailing vessels are a local counterpoint to the Pacific state’s climate diplomacy.

What’s at stake?

The need to decarbonise shipping is urgent. Shipping is the most efficient means of cargo transport, but the sheer volume of goods – 11 billion tonnes a year – puts its emissions on a par with countries like Germany or Japan. Shipping emissions add up to around 1 billion tonnes a year.

In 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency that regulates shipping, revised its climate targets to phase out GHG emissions from international shipping by 2050.

While its 2018 “initial strategy” did not at all align with the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below 1.5°C, the 2023 strategy keeps that limit within reach.

Zero by 2050 sounds like a big win. It many ways it is. But emissions must come down a lot faster for the 1.5°C limit to remain an option.

How can the energy transition be made equitable?

For a low-lying atoll state like the Marshall Islands, climate change is a matter of life and death. Exceeding 1.5°C of warming will likely trigger tipping points that would raise sea levels as ice caps melt. This would inundate the Marshall Islands.

Pacific island states have also successfully called for an equitable energy transition, which is now enshrined in the IMO’s climate strategy. Just as Alson’s outrigger canoes won’t make much difference to shipping emissions, Pacific islanders – indeed most of the world’s population – didn’t produce the emissions that are causing the climate crisis.

In 2021, the Marshall Islands proposed a global levy on shipping emissions – at least US$100 per tonne of CO₂-equivalent – to speed up the transition. Given the time lost during negotiations, they now call for a levy starting at US$150 per tonne of CO₂-equivalent.

Shipping costs will go up as the energy transition unfolds. Costs are expected to increase more for the poorest countries, which already often pay higher-than-average shipping charges. For small island developing states like the Marshall Islands, not getting help dealing with such increased costs could prove disastrous.

‘We are not drowning. We are fighting’

Beyond the small yellow outriggers built by WAM, the Asia Shipbuilding shipyard in South Korea built the Juren Ae, a sailing cargo ship to serve the Marshall Islands’ needs was recently delivered to Majuro. The publicly owned Marshall Islands Shipping Corporation will operate the 48-metre vessel. While this ship may make only a small contribution to curbing emissions, the country is working hard to translate the ambitious targets of its climate diplomacy into practice at home.

Maritime transport is set to be the first industry to have a global price on emissions. This will help speed up the transition and reward early investment. But a levy that is high enough to move the industry to take rapid action will also raise enormous revenues. This has led to questions of how to administer and spend these funds. The World Bank is positioning itself to administer the US$3.7 trillion that may be levied over the decades to 2050. Though Pacific island states now have a concrete proposal of how to ensure these funds will deliver both the necessary environmental outcomes and a ‘Just and Equitable Transition.’

Some may argue the call for an equitable transition is too big an ask. The shipping industry, they whisper in the corridors of the International Maritime Organization, can’t be expected to solve all the world’s problems. They’re right – although no one is suggesting shipping must solve all the world’s problems.

But if the transition isn’t equitable, they’re barely trying to solve any problems. The most ambitious “equitable transition” now on the table will barely fix centuries of colonial exploitation and unfair trade.

As IMO member states continue to negotiate a basket of measures to deliver on the 2023 strategy, the rallying cry of Pacific youth remains as important as ever: “We are not drowning. We are fighting.”

An earlier version of this article was published on June 27 2023 on The Conversation.

 

Christiaan De Beukelaer is a Senior Lecturer in Culture & Climate at the University of Melbourne and a visiting fellow at Iméra, Aix-Marseille Université. His latest book, Trade Winds: A Voyage to a Sustainable Future for Shipping (2023) asks whether sailing ships can help decarbonise maritime transport.