Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport (MCST) Blog

For every time, every decade there are solutions. Mine are based on common sense and the need to take action. We offer true Zero-emission ships like our versatile C-100, not half-hearted compromises. Vessels that can be efficiently mass produced combining the best of time-tested sailing ships with the very best of proven technology. We’re ready to go, here’s how.   Zero-carbon operation is available right now by optimising the ships and reducing the power use.   The fully optimised ship , working with maximum efficiency starts with a computer-tuned hull for maximum performance, a safe, stable carrier that can be relied on to deliver the goods. Racing technology is applied to proven, practical rigs, the sail power is multiplied. Using wind and sun alone, the sails, wind generators and solar all work in unison to drive the vessel.   Reduce the power usage on board. Every single component must function reliably and efficiently by harnessing all available power. Here’s a f...

Speaking at the high-level opening of the 2022 UN Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, from June 27 th to July 1 st , UN Secretary-General warns “ We cannot have a healthy planet without a healthy ocean ”.   Many people were thrilled to hear the Marshall Islands, United States, Denmark, and Kenya’s pledges to decarbonise international shipping. After all, this is a sector responsible for 2.89% in global GHG emissions in 2018 (1,076 million tonnes) according to the Fourth IMO GHG Study 2020 . If treated as a country, international shipping would be the eight largest GHG emitter in the world. Speaking at a side event of the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Sue Biniaz, US Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change, declared that the current US administration is “ committed to work with other countries in the IMO to adopt the goal of zero emissions - not net-zero emissions - but zero emissions from international shipping by no later than 2050 ”. The Interna...

Diesel is impressive. Impressive in its abundance, energy density and liquid transportability. These unique features have made it ubiquitous to heavy transport and traction in the 20th and 21st centuries. This powerful substance now runs the agricultural machinery that feeds 7.5 billion people worldwide and overall it does the work equivalent to having an extra 50 billion manual labourers on the planet. Every product in existence now relies on diesel, at some stage of its journey, to reach the market. Diesel’s grip on our world is impressive indeed. Pacific Island Nations entered the diesel powered global economy without much say in the matter and today they pay the highest price in the world for their participation. As the price of diesel reaches all-time highs and continues to rise steadily, so do global temperatures and sea levels. Diesel’s immense contribution to the climate crisis, which already disrupts life in Pacific Island Nations and will continue to do so for centuries to co...

Over the next 12 months, GHG emissions reduction negotiations at IMO will determine whether this major emitting sector will finally set 1.5 agenda compatible targets and agree an immediate ambitious price on all GHG emissions. As importantly, we will learn whether the inevitable transition to a decarbonised industry will seek to enable an equitable transition path for all.   The acid test for this will be the decisions reached on whether the GHG price will be extracted under the Principe of Polluter Pays, i.e. the originator of the environmental damage is responsible for making adequate compensation for their actions, and if so, how the considerable revenues that accrue are dispersed.   What will be spent in-sector, what out-of-sector? What goes to powering a successful sectorial transition and what goes to ensuring no state is really left behind?   How much for subsidizing a high polluting private sector to stop polluting by changing their behavior and how much to the v...

Mr. Wayne Raymi Kijiner is the  President of the Marshall Islands Student Association, University of the South Pacific, and  Undergraduate: BSc Double Major Electrical/Electronic Engineering & Physics   T here is a new but old technology making its way around the green energy discussions. I'm referring to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC). The technology has been understood since the 1800s, but it wasn't until the last 15 years that significant advancements were made and are currently being developed for improved designs.  What exactly is OTEC, and how does it work? In a nutshell, it is the use of the temperature difference between the surface and the deeper parts of the ocean to heat and cool a working fluid (usually ammonia).  Because the working fluid has a low boiling point, there is no need for a significant temperature difference; it should be at least 20°C. The working fluid is then heated using surface ocean water, causing it to turn into vapor ...

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. ...

Hon. Casten N. Nemra Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Republic of the Marshall Islands   Iakwe and greetings from the Republic of the Marshall Islands. I would like to acknowledge and commend the Undersecretary General and all participants to these meetings for the excellent array of background material and thinking that has gone into the draft Ministerial Declaration. Although much does not obviously apply to our situation – we have no rail links or overland connectivity with Europe – we fully recognize that investment in green transport has lagged far behind other sectors and this region now has a major game of catch-up on our hands. We can support in general terms, the body and intent of this draft Declaration and commend the drafting team for their excellent work.   As a representative of the climate most vulnerable nations, it would be remiss of me not to underscore the critical importance of tackling decarbonisation of the transport sector and the import...

  H.E. Ambassador Albon T, Ishoda, Republic for the Marshall Islands Statement to "The Getting to Zero Coalition [1]    7th December Webinar:  Synthesis of Shipping decarbonisation at COP26 and MEPC77.   What does equitable transition look like in practice? That is a very good question and one that none of us have the answer to. Not yet! But it is critically important that collectively we find that answer. And find it relatively quickly.   Mine is an atoll nation. 2m high. For us, the most climate vulnerable of all, it’s a very simple equation. Stay under 1.5 or stop being a country. Whether that means we will still have a flag to fly over a significant proportion of the world’s fleet is another question.   At the International Maritime Organisation, we are finally coming down to the business end of the wedge. What is the Market-based Measure shipping will adopt? Will it really close the price gap with alternative fuels? And if it does, the most conte...