Islands in the ‘Dreams’
The fellows, speakers, partners, and moderators of the second cohort of Blue Planet Alliance’s Fellowship Program
Singing along to The Cranberries’ “Dreams”
We were there to discuss how to advance renewable energy, but were brought even closer together by The Cranberries.
A group of experts from the U.S. and 10 island countries and territories were in Honolulu in a van, going from the opening-night reception of Blue Planet Alliance’s Fellowship program back to our hotel in Waikiki. The representatives from the Pacific (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu), the Caribbean (Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico), and the Indian Ocean (Seychelles) countries were inspired earlier in the evening by opening-night welcome remarks from BPA founder Henk Rogers and others, the gorgeous Hawaiian sunset, and the opportunity before us: to help 10 more islands get on the path to 100% renewable energy.
But we’re also humans, and rather than doing this by Zoom, we needed to be in the same room, to learn from each other, and to learn to trust each other. So when the song “Dreams” by the Irish rock band The Cranberries came on the radio, guards were let down and singing voices and spirits went up, and the whole van was positively impacted with good vibes.
That set the tone for the week, as this cohort of 40+ island representatives got a chance to hear from the Aloha State experts who helped Hawaii become the first U.S. state to mandate a transition to 100% renewable energy. Those experts included (picture below, from left): former Governor David Ige, who signed the bill into law in 2015; Hawaiian State Senator Chris Lee, who authored the bill; Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority Executive Director Gwen Yamamoto-Lau, whose office is navigating new ways for all consumers to implement renewable solutions, such as roof-top solar; Dr. Charles “Chip” Fletcher, renowned climate scientist and Interim Dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; and more than 20 other speakers.
The Blue Planet Alliance Fellowship Program taps the talent and leadership that helped Hawaii cross the threshold, and that talent shares its collective wisdom with the representative attendees from each country, a mix of four sectors: representatives from the legislature, the regulatory branch, the utility, and civil society from each participating island. The idea is to get those islands to also commit to a 100% renewable-energy future.
And once an island does, we ask them to sign a Blue Planet Climate Agreement (BPCA) with us, a nonbinding but important symbolic gesture that shows the island is concerned with the existential threat to it posed by the negative impacts of a warming planet — including rising sea levels and temperatures too hot for humanity to thrive.
During this past week’s conference — at a ceremony at Washington Place, the Hawaiian Governor’s Mansion, with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green offering welcome remarks to kickstart the evening — three islands signed BPCAs with us: Dominica, Grenada, and Vanuatu (pictured below with BPA founder Henk Rogers, from left, are: Dominica’s Honorable Jullan Defoe, Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Blue and Green Economy with specific responsibility for Fisheries and Blue Economy; Grenada’s Honorable Kerryne James, Minister of Climate Resilience, Environment, and Renewable Energy; and Vanuatu’s Antony Garae, Director, Department of Energy).
That trio now joins six other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) countries or territories to sign such a document, officially joining the nonprofit Alliance in a growing movement to demonstrate to the rest of the world that a carbon-free-fuel future is indeed possible. Now nine countries strong, Blue Planet Alliance anticipates signing at least a 10th country later this month at the SIDS4 conference in Antigua and Barbuda.
A New Resource for Islands: A Rapid-Response Team
In a new development, all 18 islands that have come through our Fellowship program (the 10 from this past week and the eight others that were part of the inaugural cohort in October 2023) will have an incredibly useful resource going forward. During the program last week, BPA announced the formation of the Blue Team, a rapid-response assembly of experts from the legislative, regulatory, financial, technical, and academic sectors who will volunteer to assist any island navigate roadblocks on their journey to 100% renewable energy.
With plans for a third cohort to come to Hawaii in October 2024, and to matriculate eight or more islands for each successive cohort, twice a year, Blue Planet Alliance envisions a scenario where nearly 50 islands will be on a path to a 100% renewable-energy plan by the end of 2025. That is our current “Dream,” with apologies to The Cranberries.
