Sharm El Shiekh, Egypt – On November 7, the United States announced its Green Shipping Challenge at COP27. Anna-Marie Laura, Ocean Conservancy’s Climate Policy Director, issued the following statement in response to the announcement:

“The shipping industry is a large and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions and increasing commitments from governments, industry and civil society are all essential to decarbonizing this sector. The Green Shipping Challenge will inspire new commitments and ones that build upon previous pledges or initiatives such as the Clydebank Declaration and the Zero by 2050 Declaration. We see this catalyzing effect already in the fact that so many nations who committed to green shipping corridors last year at COP26 followed up with more details this year including naming ports and partner nations where green shipping corridors will be established.

“Challenges and declarations like these should increasingly include developing and small island nations. Wealthier countries have a responsibility to support and provide resources in the form of investment, technical assistance and technology transfer for developing and small island nations to decarbonize and build resilience to the impacts of climate change. Establishing green shipping corridors are good examples of the types of commitments that could accomplish this.

“Green shipping corridors are an emerging tool to help decarbonize the industry that many governments and non-governmental groups included as part of the Green Shipping Challenge, the Clydebank Declaration and the Zero by 2050 Declaration. However, there isn’t an agreed upon definition of what a green shipping corridor is or how they should be established. Ocean Conservancy defines them as: “Maritime routes between one or more ports which enable the testing and uptake of zero-emission lifecycle fuels and technologies with the ambition to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain of the corridor in support of an equitable sector-wide decarbonization no later than 2040.” Green shipping corridor commitments made through the Green Shipping Challenge will pave the way for this shared vision for zero-carbon shipping, a key ocean-climate solution.”

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Anna-Marie and Ocean Conservancy experts are available for interviews upon request.

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