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Mobilizing and Implementing Ocean-Based Climate Mitigation Solutions

UNFCCC official side event organised by Ocean Conservancy and Transport & Environment on December 10, 16:45-18:15 (local time).

This high-level Davos-style discussion, hosted by Transport & Environment, Ocean Conservancy and the Friends of Ocean and Climate group, focused on mobilizing concrete ocean-based climate action and encouraging Parties to include and implement ocean-based climate solutions, such as actions to reduce emissions from international shipping, plastic pollution and increase offshore renewables, in their NDCs, NAPs, and other national climate plans.

Run of show:
  • 16:45-16:49  Welcome

Luis Estevez-Salmeron, Associate Director, International Government Relations, Ocean Conservancy

  • 16:50-16:55  Keynote

His Excellency, Ambassador Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean

  • 16:55 – 17:35 Ocean-based climate mitigation: From Policy to Action

Moderator: Susan Ruffo, Senior Advisor for Ocean and Climate, United Nations Foundation

Beatriz Yordi, Director Carbon Markets and Clean Mobility, DG Clima, European Commission

Intervention –

Question: The International Maritime Organization is the U.N. body that deals with international shipping, including reducing the sector’s GHG emissions, but action through other channels is by no means precluded. What role can the UNFCCC and individual states play to support climate action on international maritime transport?

Ambassador Ilana Seid, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Palau to the UN

Intervention –

Question: How can the Dialogue advance the role of the ocean in the future rounds of the global stocktake, updating national strategies (NDCs and NAPs) and other UNFCCC processes?

Kate Guy, Senior Advisor and Managing Director for Cross-Cutting Climate Issues in the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, United States

Intervention –

Question: Even if all countries implement their latest NDCs, the global GHG emission level in 2030 is well above the levels required to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5C. What needs to be done to ensure the energy transition is on track and that ocean-climate solutions, like offshore renewables, are accelerating to achieve the goals defined in the Paris Agreement? 

Gonzalo Guaiquil, Plastics and Climate Change Coordinator and UNFCCC SBI Vice Chair, at Directorate of Environment, Climate Change and Oceans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile

Intervention –

Question: Gonzalo, you are Chile’s lead negotiator to the International Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution, what are the linkages between the INC and the work in the UNFCCC? And how can we better integrate the work on plastics and climate?

Catherine Chabaud, Member of the European Parliament, France Renew

Intervention –

Question: Maritime shipping is a big consumer of fossil fuels but is also central to the international energy trade. How do you see the link between climate action in shipping and the broader energy transition?

  • 17:35-18:10  Spotlight on Ocean-Based Decarbonization

Steffi Lemke, Minister of Environment, Germany

Intervention –

Question: What are the intersections between the on-going negotiations for a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution and Parties’ obligations under the UNFCCC? How can national and subnational policy-makers think about these two issues together? What policies do we need to see?

Simon Benmarraze, Team Lead, Renewable Energy Technology and Infrastructure, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Intervention –

Question: In the net-zero scenarios projected by IRENA and IEA, offshore renewables, particularly offshore wind, are critical to ensuring a successful energy transition. Can you connect the dots on why this is critical to meeting our climate goals?        

Aarthi Ananthanarayanan, Director, Plastics and Climate Initiative, Ocean Conservancy

Intervention –

Question: Both plastics and climate change have enormous human rights implications for coastal communities – what are opportunities to generate co-benefits for coastal communities in addressing both of these crises?

William Todts, Executive Director, Transport & Environment

Intervention –

Question: Maritime shipping is a big consumer of fossil fuels but is also central to the international energy trade. How do you see the link between climate action in shipping and the broader energy transition?  Or How can the principles of equity and equitable transition be integrated into state and international action on shipping emissions?

  • 18:11-18:14  Closing remarks

Beatriz Yordi, Director Carbon Markets and Clean Mobility, DG Clima, European Commission

All guiding questions by topic:

Offshore renewable energy

  1. In the net-zero scenarios projected by IRENA and IEA, offshore renewables, particularly offshore wind, are critical to ensuring a successful energy transition. Can you connect the dots on why this is critical to meeting our climate goals?
  2. Even if all countries implement their latest NDCs, the global GHG emission level in 2030 is well above the levels required to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5C. What needs to be done to ensure the energy transition is on track and offshore renewables are incorporated in NDC targets to achieve the goals defined in the Paris Agreement?
  3. What do you foresee as a major challenge to ensure offshore renewables are deployed in a manner that has a net-positive impact on biodiversity and other ocean users?

Decarbonization of the shipping sector

  1. The International Maritime Organization is the U.N. body that deals with international shipping, including reducing the sector’s GHG emissions, but action through other channels is by no means precluded. What role can the UNFCCC and individual states play to support climate action on international maritime transport?
  2. Maritime shipping is a big consumer of fossil fuels but is also central to the international energy trade. How do you see the link between climate action in shipping and the broader energy transition?
  3. How can the principles of equity and equitable transition be integrated into state and international action on shipping emissions?

Plastics reduction as a climate mitigation tool

  1. Help us understand the plastics issue in the context of climate – what information and misinformation do we need to unpack (e.g., oil, FF dependence, investor stories, misinformation around LCA emissions)
  2. What are the intersections between the on-going negotiations for a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution and Parties’ obligations under the UNFCCC? How can national and subnational policy-makers think about these two issues together? What policies do we need to see?
  3. Both plastics and climate change have enormous human rights implications for coastal communities – what are opportunities to generate co-benefits for coastal communities in addressing both of these crises?

Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue

  1. How can the Dialogue advance the role of the ocean in the future rounds of the global stocktake, updating national strategies (NDCs and NAPs) and other UNFCCC processes?
  2. What are the strategies and approaches that the UN bodies and other international organizations can adopt in order to build the synergies for maximizing the impact of collective progress for ocean, climate, and biodiversity?
Contact persons for any issues the day of the event:

Luis Estévez-Salmerón +15106848331 (WhatsApp) or lestevez@oceanconservancy.org
Jacob Armstrong +32470835517 (WhatsApp) or jacob.armstrong@transportenvironment.org