Climate change being tackled by maritime sector

He was speaking yesterday at the launch of the Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre - Caribbean at the UTT Maritime Campus at Chaguaramas. The centre is the first of five to be established around the world by the European Union in partnership with the International Maritime Organisation.

Biesebroek said the maritime shipping sector was the only one not covered by Global Greenhouse Gasses Emissions Reduction commitments although the world has the technology right now to reduce harmful emissions from the ships.

The aim of the centre is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships as part of the global effort to mitigate the impact of climate change.

This will be done by promoting the use of energy-efficient technologies on board vessels trading in the Caribbean area and building capacity across 16 Caribbean territories for the monitoring of greenhouse gasses.

Biesebroek said climate change is happening now and it is accelerating and this acceleration began more than a hundred years ago and is one of the serious challenges facing today’s world.

He said the European Union recognises that climate change can cause unprecedented reversal in the progress toward wiping out poverty and can undermine efforts toward sustainable and inclusive development.

He said this is why the fight against climate change, both in Europe and globally, is so important.

Also speaking at the event was Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan who said the European Commission, in its Climate Action Report, estimated that maritime transport emits about one thousand million tons of carbon dioxide a year and is responsible for about 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

He said it was even more alarming that shipping emissions are predicted to increase by between 50 percent and 250 percent by the year 2050 depending on future economic and energy developments.

He said ship energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions could be reduced by up to 75 percent by applying operational measures and implementing existing technology.