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Joe Lo Published on 23/08/2021, 4:41pm

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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"... The Guardian has collected data from across the region to map what resources are being harvested from Pacific countries, where they end up, who these projects profit and who they harm. Over the next month, we will launch a series of reports and investigations that outline the impact of the resource extraction industry in the Pacific region – focusing on logging, mining, fishing, and the emerging industry of deep-sea mining.

A global audit of Pacific resource extraction undertaken by the Guardian’s Pacific Project has revealed that: 

• China dominates resource extraction in the region, taking just over half the total tonnes of the minerals, timber and fish exported. 
• In some industries, Pacific communities see less than 12% of the final value of the resources being extracted, with little paid in royalties or reinvested in the countries which own the resources. Despite their collective natural resource wealth, GDP per capita remains low for many Pacific Island states.

• The extraction each year of billions of dollars worth of minerals, oil, gas and timber – US$11.8bn in 2019 - is causing environmental devastation, poisoning rivers and forests, and degrading food security.
• The scale of these extractive industries is also having significant social and health impacts on Pacific people..."  Read more...