Blue Planet Alliance Grows Larger at COP28
Henk Rogers (left) and Republic of Palau President Surangel Whipps, Jr. (right) sign Blue Planet Climate Agreement
How are we going to move forward on ending the use of carbon-based fuels when international climate negotiations are so fraught, and held back by negotiators who can’t even agree on the science that fossil fuels cause climate change?
Perhaps a bottom-up approach of slowly building a network of countries and organizations committed to systems change that, once it reaches an apex, will be unstoppable.
That’s the thinking of Blue Planet Alliance, which this past two weeks in Dubai — at the UN climate conference known as COP28 — officially added two more countries to its growing list of Alliance members, which signed Blue Planet Climate Agreements, a document declaring each signee’s intention to commit itself on the path to a 100% renewable-energy future.
Palau and Curacao thus became the fourth and fifth Small Island Developing States (SIDS) country or territory to sign such a document, officially joining our nonprofit Alliance in a growing movement to demonstrate to the rest of the world that a carbon-free-fuel future is indeed possible.
On Wednesday (Dec. 6), Republic of Palau President Surangel Whipps, Jr., took part in a BPA panel and then signed the Blue Planet Climate Agreement with BPA founder Henk Rogers. And then on Saturday (Dec. 9), Curacao's Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Albert Martis, signed one, as well, after BPA had had fruitful talks with Curacao Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas.
“We have no time to waste,” says Rogers. “The clock is ticking on implementing real solutions to our planetary polycrisis. And foremost among them is the threat posed by the continued use of carbon-based fuels. But too many succumb to the assumption that eliminating fossil fuels is too hard or even impossible. We demonstrated in our work in Hawaii that not only is it necessary, but that, importantly, it is quite possible. Here at this most consequential climate conference in Dubai, we are thrilled that Palau and Curacao are joining our Alliance, and helping us spread the 100% renewable-energy message to others.”
Curacao Permanent Representative to World Meteorological Organization Albert Martis (left) and Henk Rogers sign Blue Planet Climate Agreement
The Kingdom of Tonga and the Government of Tuvalu — both UN Member States — were the first two jurisdictions to sign Blue Planet Climate Agreements, both at last year’s UN Climate Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, COP27. Then this past April, Guam — a U.S. territory — was the third island to do so.
The UN’s IPCC report’s sixth assessment — a document synthesizing thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies, papers, and reports related to climate — makes clear that the continued use of dirty energy is a dangerous threat to the continued livability of our planet, and that we must cease both the extraction and use of fossil fuels and their greenhouse gas emissions or face potentially irreversible negative consequences. We have seen such consequences increase over the past year, the hottest yet on record, replete with generational heat waves, floods, wildfires, and other unpredictable, extreme weather events.
Limiting average global temperature rise to 1.5 or even 2 degrees Celsius is a ubiquitous talking point at UN climate conferences, diplomatic circles, and civil society demonstrations. But though much discussed, there have been few commitments to eliminating the use of such carbon-based fuels.
Blue Planet Alliance — led by Rogers, visionary and advocate for climate action — is paving such a path forward. BPA is growing a global movement aimed at reducing the negative impact of fossil-fuel emissions on the planet, and enlisting a holistic approach that, island per island (and later country by country), unites governments, businesses, utilities, and individuals in the fight and helps them, together, create and develop unique renewable solutions tailored specifically to their own island’s needs.
BPA catalyzes climate ambition through policy work, community-based solutions, and youth-led advocacy. The organization builds on the pivotal climate change policies and initiatives of its sister organization, Blue Planet Foundation, which helped successfully navigate and pass the nation’s first 100% renewable-energy law, requiring the State of Hawaii to commit to 100% renewable energy by 2045. More than 20 other U.S. states have since followed suit with their own versions of that commitment to clean energy or net-zero emissions.
While BPA eventually envisions a movement that encompasses all nations, it is starting with islands for two reasons. First, because islands are both the most vulnerable to and the least responsible for the negative ravages of climate change. Greater than the risks posed to larger countries, the threats to smaller islands are catastrophic, posing risks to food security, fisheries, agriculture, and conditions for human habitats, such as shelter and employment. As sea levels rise, island nations are at risk of losing coastal arable land to degradation as well as salination. SIDS are also most impacted by the costs of fossil fuels, often being forced to spend billions of dollars annually to import energy, when access to more cost-effective renewable resources — such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydro, and wave power — are readily available locally.
The second reason BPA is first focused on islands is that, because of its success in Hawaii, it has discovered a replicable formula for success. So much so, in fact, that this past October, BPA launched its most vital initiative, the Blue Planet Alliance Fellowship Program. That program brings key stakeholders from each of eight islands — teams representing the public sector, utilities, and communities — to Hawaii as a cohort for a week-long workshop and interactive lecture series featuring the very experts who led the landmark legislation that became Hawaiian law.
The venue in Dubai for COP28, the largest-ever COP (Conference of the Parties)
Those experts included 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; HEI utility President and CEO Scott Seu; and more than 20 other speakers, who inspired our first cohort of islands, comprising Palau, as well as American Samoa, the Cayman Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Pohnpei (of the Federated States of Micronesia), Tonga, and Tuvalu.
With plans for a second cohort to come to Hawaii in May 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.
BPA encourages all island nations and large countries to make the commitment to reach the goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045, by working with business, governments, and leaders alike. In order to bring this dire change to fruition, both BPA and the individual island nations are calling for funds from corporations and their country’s leadership. To learn more about Blue Planet Alliance or become a grantee, please visit: https://blueplanetalliance.org/.
