Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport (MCST) Blog

Atina Schutz is a law student at the University of the South Pacific who has been closely following the IMO negotiations  The shipping industry accounts for 3% of all CO2 emissions, and is on track to grow as high as between 50% and 250% in 2050. At the International Maritime Organization (IMO), discussions on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from ships are ongoing. While progress is slowly being made, the main thing people in the Pacific, and everywhere, should be watching is equity in the progress of GHG reduction debates.  In the global market, the Pacific is at a disadvantage. Our small economies, with distantly spread islands, are very far from the global market, which is heavily concentrated in the Global North. When it is time to decarbonize, that disadvantage will be exacerbated. As decarbonization is a highly costly and technical process, the cost will fall on governments already struggling to provide other equally important services to their citizens. ...

  Dr Tristan Smith is the Associate Professor at University College of London Energy Institute.  The hard work and vocal leadership of Fiji and a number of Pacific countries has, once again, enabled major progress in climate negotiations.  COP 26 started, just under a month ago, with the vast majority of countries, representing the majority of global Gas House Gas (GHG )emissions, signed up to ‘net zero’ targets. Most commonly targeting their national economies to emit net zero GHG by 2050.  For the efforts made to achieve those targets not to be in vain, they need two international transport sectors, shipping and aviation, that most often lie outside of national GHG reduction commitments, to step up to commit to similar.  In 2018, in direct response to calls initially made in 2015 by the late Tony deBrum, Foreign Minister to the Marshall Islands, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted its first commitment to an absolute reduction in GHG emis...

On Sunday, The Guardian article from Casten Ned Nemra, Marshall Islands Minister of Foreign Affairs , marks a trend of increasing attention from global media on the central role shipping emissions play in decarbonizing our global economy.   RMI was joined by Kiribati and the Solomon Islands in calling for full decarbonisation by 2050 in their recent IMO submission, recognizing the IPCC AR6 report indicating sea level rise will continue for decades ahead, even if the 1.5 degrees  trajectory is met by 2030.  Recognition of the urgent action required has been widespread, but the issue of loss and damages to Pacific Island Countries – some of the most vulnerable and least culpable for our current global trajectory – is not being acknowledged with the same consensus. The earlier joint submission by RMI with Solomon Islands for a GHG levy starting at US$100 has been met with resistance from various national representatives and shipping industry stakeholders in the IMO.  U...