Don’t let ships sink Paris climate-change agreement
The Bay Area welcomes thousands of international visitors for the Global Climate Action Summit this week. They come to announce far-reaching steps to solve our climate crisis.
But, no matter how diverse, participants will have one thing in common. From the shoes on their feet to the smartphones in their pockets, thanks to global trade, everyone will be carrying items that were once transported by ship.
Quietly hiding in plain sight, shipping is a big part of our everyday life. It is also the world’s sixth-largest carbon-emitter and growing rapidly.
Not considered under the Paris Agreement, the shipping industry earlier this year finally stepped up to do its part and committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2050.
This is an important step, but not enough. The Paris Agreement will succeed only if shipping reduces carbon emissions immediately and radically — if not, shipping will sink the agreement’s commitment to
keep global warming from increasing more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Fortunately, zero-emission shipping is not as futuristic as it sounds. New ship designs already reduce emissions. Zerocarbon fuels are becoming available. And California engineers are developing and building low- and zero-emission vessels.
The iconic tourist Red and
White Fleet in San Francisco has a hybrid vessel ready and a zero-emission fuel cell vessel in the works under development by Golden Gate Zero Emission Marine of Alameda.
Technological innovations, combined with political will to drive change, are reducing emissions in other parts of the world, too. Norway will soon prohibit carbon-emitting vessels in its fjords and is supporting the construction of zeroemission vessels to meet this challenge.
Other aggressive emissions reductions are happening in California. The ports of Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach have already reduced carbon pollution by more than 80 percent since 2005. How? The ports replaced aging diesel trucks and equipment. They require that ships turn off engines and plug into shoreside power while in port, and they offer rebates to efficient ships that burn less fuel and lower emissions when approaching ports.
Results already include cleaner air for port communities and workers. But, to avert the worst of climate change, ships at sea need to lower and zero-out emissions. We must figure out how to ship our stuff without emitting carbon.
Two elements define our age: global trade and climate change. Global trade shares goods from afar, mostly moved by ship, with every corner of the planet, stimulating economies and lifting millions out of poverty.
At same time, accelerated climate change puts international investments and business practices at risk. Coastal infrastructure and ports are endangered by rising seas and extreme weather. The very existence of vulnerable nations and communities are threatened.
Urgent, pending changes to international shipping may well define the future for both trade and climate.
Eighty percent of the world’s trade volume is carried by ships. Zero-emission shipping will reduce the carbon footprint of every traded product in the world, from bananas to beds, soybeans to smartphones.
Some innovators in the shipping industry are leading the way. Now political leaders and the rest of the shipping industry must follow suit to cut carbon pollution and give the world a fighting chance to rein in climate change.