Fiji and the Marshall Islands launched the Pacific Blue Shipping Partnership at the United Nations Climate Action Summit yesterday in New York, determined to decarbonise shipping for up to eight Pacific small island states.
The initiative is a call for an investment of $500m in blended climate financing to catalyse domestic shipping decarbonisation in six to eight Pacific small island states at the scale of shipping appropriate to their micro-state needs.
“Through this partnership, we plan to secure an initial blended finance package of $500m from domestic and international sources, including donor finance, concessional loans, private sector investment, and a planned regional blue shipping bond,” explained David Paul, the Marshall Islands’ environment minister.
The package would be spent purchasing and retrofitting low-carbon ships that combine local design innovation and international technologies, building resilient and low-carbon ports, investing in new renewable energy generation and energy supply chains for regional shipping, and supporting education and training, capacity building, and national policy reforms.
The full proposal will be rolled out at COP in Chile in November.
