Australia has backed a global plan to promote ‘green’ shipping and clean up the industry, at the COP27 climate conference.
More than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are released each year by seaborne ships, which rely on low-grade bunker fuel.
Their emissions account for almost three per cent of all carbon emitted by humankind, federal ministers Chris Bowen, Catherine King and Pat Conroy said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Australia signed up for the Green Shipping Challenge at the conference in Egypt on Monday, after being invited to join by US President Joe Biden at a forum in June.
Mr Conroy, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, attended the launch in Sharm El-Sheikh hosted by the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry.
The Green Shipping Challenge encourages countries, ports and shipping companies to take action at COP27 to align the industry with the 2015 Paris Agreement goal to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.
“Emissions from the shipping sector are on an upward trajectory which is at odds with the goals of the Paris Agreement,” Climate Change Minister Mr Bowen said.
Under the shipping challenge, Australia plans to sign an agreement with Singapore to set up green shipping corridors.
Meanwhile, Australian mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest called for long-term thinking when addressing spiralling gas and power prices, saying only planning for the future could prevent entrenching current energy settings further.
“If you aren’t thinking of your company beyond fossil fuels, there’s two reasons only for that – you’re lazy, or you have a vested interest to keep polluting the planet,” he told the ABC.
“I’m on the front foot here, giving fossil fuel companies a hard time, they should be using their super profits now to be going green, to be giving their consumers energy that doesn’t cook the planet.”
Mr Forrest has signed a joint-agreement with Kenya to eliminate fossil fuels and instead harness the huge geothermal energy available in the African nation.
“Kenya, like so many countries around the world, are just wasting their renewable energy … it’s a message of what can be done if you think it through,” he said.
