The Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands have submitted an ambitious new proposal to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations specialist agency responsible for regulating international shipping, urging all its 174 member states to support their bid to decarbonise the shipping sector by 2050.

The Pacific island nations want their proposal, ‘Resolution on Zero Emissions No Later Than 2050’, to be considered and adopted at the IMO’s Maritime Environment Protection Committee’s (MEPC) 77th session scheduled to convene in November.

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

MCST has completed initial research of carbon pricing options under the IMO GHG emissions reduction Roadmap to provide guidance to Pacific high ambition delegations participating in these negotiations. This is the first such analysis undertaken through a Pacific lens.

Swire Shipping recently released its three point strategy to commit to reducing its GHG footprint of which one of them is a practical demonstration and commitment to fund the low carbon shipping construction Project Cerulean. This project seeks to build the first low-carbon, low-cost sail-assisted inter-island cargo vessel to serve communities in the Pacific that lack cargo handling infrastructure.

RMI and Solomon Islands, with support from Pacific high ambition delegations, is pressing IMO to agree to adopt zero by 2050 targets in its Revised GHG Emission Reduction Strategy in 2023. We have also submitted a high ambition proposal for a universal, mandatory GHG levy on all international shipping with an entry price of $100 ton/CO2-e. It is imperative for 1.5 degrees that these are brought to the forefront of IMO negotiations now.

Ambassador Ishoda will convene a series of e-bwebwenato for high ambition folk to talk through these issues and discuss how we can aim for the highest possible ambition at IMO throughout 2021.

When IMO negotiations break down, where do we turn to for guidance? In adopting the Initial Strategy on GHG emissions reduction in 2018, all IMO member states committed themselves to be guided in their decision-making by an agreed set of Guiding Principles. This new Columbia Law School White Paper examines these Principles as they stand at international law.

Convened by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Global Maritime Forum and Friends of Ocean Action, the Republic of the Marshall Islands’ Minister of Education, and presiding MCST Chair, the Hon. Kitlang Kabua, has set a precedent for action within the Getting to Zero Coalition in this Virtual Ocean Dialogue concerning how green stimulus measures may fuel the decarbonization of shipping at national, regional, and global levels.