‘Climate crisis is the greatest economic opportunity the world has ever known’: John Kerry
The organisers of Nor-Shipping pulled out all the stops yesterday to ensure a stellar cast of speakers at this year’s most high-profile maritime gathering.
The biennial event has been blessed with favourable weather, and a strong turnout with immigration at Oslo airport struggling to process the extra volume of visitors for this week’s mega maritime trade fair.
Making the most headlines yesterday was American political heavyweight John Kerry, who spoke at both the event’s headline conference as well as at a reception at the US embassy in Oslo in the evening.
Speaking on the 79th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Kerry, the US climate envoy, rallied delegates attending Nor-Shipping’s Ocean Leadership Conference, calling the 2020s a “decisive decade” for the planet. “We can win this fight,” he said. “It requires the same dedication as when the Liberty ships were built, three ships every second day.”
Kerry also called on member states of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to set stricter 2030 green targets, something that will be up for discussion at next month’s 80th gathering of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
Shipping had a big part to play to ensure the 1.5 degrees Celsius goals laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement were met, Kerry said.
“Not a lot of people, public or private sector, get asked or are given the opportunity to bring a whole planet back from the brink. You are. We are,” Kerry told the approximate 300 senior maritime executives attending the event.
Speaking later at the US embassy, the US envoy for climate repeated his message with some strong words, telling invited guests: “The shipping industry touches everything. Shipping has a global responsibility and I know you feel it.”
Unless stricter green shipping targets are met by 2030, there can be no 2050 net zero, Kerry warned.
“We’re in trouble, not trouble we can’t get out of, science is telling us what to do. The longer we leave it the harder and more expensive it will become. This is as large a crisis as any security threat in the world. It is also the greatest economic opportunity the world has ever known,” Kerry said.
Splash will be bringing readers updates from Nor-Shipping all week.
‘‘Climate crisis is the greatest economic opportunity the world has ever known’’ Indeed, but maybe not for Exxon the main funder of the lying deniers.
You mentioned “Exxon.^
To the best of my kowledge, it is now formally known as Exxon-Mobil. FyI, Exxon-Mobil acquired Valero in 2017 (the year that James Comey was replaced by Chris Wray as FBI Director).
As far as the maritime industry, one of Tim Cook’s brothers is now working in that industry. Before that, he worked for the iRS.
With regard to
“ while at same time the production and burning of coal, oil and gas was subsidised by $5.9tn in 2020 alone.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/06/fossil-fuel-industry-subsidies-of-11m-dollars-a-minute-imf-finds