Deliberating in the Desert
An agreement was reached at the conclusion of COP28, the UN’s annual climate conference. The agreement is seen by some as a historic achievement — declaring that we must transition away from fossil fuels — and by others as business as usual, not going nearly far enough.
While we will let the pundits weigh the merit of the ultimate agreement, we can say unequivocally that COP28 was a success for Blue Planet Alliance. BPA is actively working to achieve the results the planet needs to stave off environmental catastrophe.
After years of negotiation, in 2015, our sister organization Blue Planet Foundation led the movement to get Hawaii to legislatively mandate a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2045. BPA was formed specifically to replicate the Hawaii success in other countries and territories globally, to put islands on the path to their own 100% renewable-energy transitions. We’re starting with island nations, because 1) they’re most similar to Hawaii in terms of available renewable-energy sources and prohibitive costs spent on importing fossil fuels to power the island(s), and 2) islands are the most vulnerable to — and least responsible for — the greenhouse gas emissions causing the rise in average global temperatures and sea levels.
And so we’re working bilaterally and multi-laterally with islands to help get them on the path to 100% renewable energy.
Palau President Surangel Whipps, Jr. (left) and Permanent Representative of Curaçao & St Maarten to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Albert Martis sign Blue Planet Climate Agreements with Blue Planet Alliance founder Henk Rogers
Last year, at COP27 in Egypt, we signed Blue Planet Climate Agreements — non-binding documents that nevertheless pledge that BPA and each co-signee will work together to help them work incrementally toward transitioning to 100% renewable energy — with two UN Member States, the Kingdom of Tonga and Tuvalu. Then in April of this year, we signed one with Guam. At COP28 in Dubai, we’re thrilled to announce that we signed two more islands to our movement: Palau and Curacao. And we have more lined up for early 2024.
This bottom-up movement — and activations like it — are what will help us solve climate change.
Determined in dubai
There were more than 20 other events in which BPA played a role at COP28, demonstrating that what happens outside the negotiating chamber is often of more import than the deliberations inside.
Many of those events took place with our wonderful partner Peace Boat US. Peace Boat US is a committed campaigner for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with a particular focus on Ocean & Climate, Youth Engagement, and Nuclear Disarmament. Jointly with Peace Boat, BPA runs a Youth for the SDGs program that has been officially recognized by UNESCO as a "Contribution" to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. And four of the participating youth in that initiative joined us in Dubai for a variety of events. The recent progress of the program was showcased, as well, highlighting the voyages Peace Boat made to both the Arctic and to Latin America. For these voyages, BPA partnered with Peace Boat to ensure participation by two youths from the Cook Islands, two from Trinidad and Tobago, one from Panama, and one from New York City.
First up at COP was the Samuel Lawrence Foundation’s (SLF) “First Fridays” webinar series, in which one of those young people, Kneyone Murray of Trinidad and Tobago, and BPA Executive Director Francois Rogers took part. Like Peace Boat US, SLF is also a Blue Planet Alliance member, and it fosters community engagement in creative endeavors and participation in local and global matters of scientific concern. The “First Fridays” series takes place, well, the first Friday of each month, and this month’s episode took place live from Dubai, with insights from Murray, Rogers, Deirdre White (CEO of Pyxera Global, another BPA member), Dr. Noa Gafni (professor at Columbia University’s Climate School), and the Honorable Lord Fatafehi Fakafanua, the Speaker of Parliament of Tonga, and the youngest Parliamentary Speaker on the planet. The event was hosted by Lance Gould, CEO of BPA Alliance member Brooklyn Story Lab.
MeshMinds founder Kay Vasey signed a Blue Planet Alliance Memorandum of Understanding at the Arizona State University pavilion at COP28
BPA works with countless organizations that have a primary focus on a sustainable future, and that certainly continued to be the case at COP. The Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet (GASP) hosted an event in its Blue Zone Pavilion that featured BPA founder Henk Rogers, Peace Boat US Director Emilie McGlone, our island-focused Alliance member Island Innovation, more of our Global Ambassadors, Francisco Lara Fletes of Costa Rica and Khadija Stewart of Trinidad and Tobago, Kiesha Farnum of our partner Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, and new BPA MOU Partner Kay Vasey of the Singapore-based Mesh Minds, which uses gaming to teach kids about the dangers of climate change and marine pollution.
And another important partner of BPA, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University, hosted a series of events that put a spotlight on cooperation, youth, and international leadership. Leading off was an interview session featuring the Republic of Palau President Surangel Whipps, Jr., and BPA Founder Henk Rogers, moderated by BPA partner Brooklyn Story Lab CEO Lance Gould, and followed by the signing of the Blue Planet Climate Agreement between Palau and BPA. Then a panel featuring Blue Planet Global Ambassadors demonstrated the savvy and commitment of the next generation, while another panel featuring BPA partners showcased the power of SDG17, Partnership. And finally, ASU Global Futures Lab Senior Director of Global Partnerships Amanda Ellis led a fireside chat with Henk Rogers and Lord Fatafehi Fakafanua, Speaker of the House of Parliament in Tonga, and the world’s youngest parliamentary house speaker.
And across the “border” between the official COP proceedings of the Blue Zone, the public-accessible Green Zone held important convenings and events throughout the COP conference, including an informative series hosted by another Alliance member, Extreme Hangout. In one EH event in which BPA took part, Rogers and McGlone again led a panel with more youth voices, including UK COP Youth Delegate Arianna Abdul-Nour.
BPA Alliance member Greening the Islands Foundation had a very successful COP, hosting a number of important events with UN DESA and IRENA, and playing a major role in helping BPA secure a partnership with the Country of Curacao. Greening the Islands Foundation is an innovative organization that supports self-sufficiency and sustainability of islands worldwide, and we are partnering with them to help build a global movement of islands committed to a 100% renewable-energy future.
As a destination, Dubai is a bit over the top — a very vertical city with skyscrapers as far as the eye can see, and the world’s tallest building. Atlantis the Palm Hotel is renowned for its iconic architecture, built on Palm Jumeirah, an archipelago of artificial, man-made islands, and Atlantis is home to the Lost Chambers Aquarium, which houses 65,000 marine animals. The Lost Chambers Aquarium was also the site of an event that BPA co-hosted, with our Alliance partners the Kingdom of Tonga, Island Resilience Partnership, and EarthX, for an evening of wonder and thought leadership about island resiliency. Special guest Dr. Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer, graced us with her presence, and the proceedings were briefly interrupted by a feeding frenzy of fish beyond the glass, behind the speakers.
As has become a BPA tradition, we always host a Jeffersonian-style dinner at UN events like COP and UNGA, in which we host over 30 guests, and each person gets a timed two-minutes to address the group with their thoughts on how to best move the climate conversation forward. In Dubai, we were honored to have representation from islands across the world — from Curacao to Barbados, Costa Rica to Kiribati, Palau to Malta — as well as thought leaders from across the climate space.
Overall, BPA took part in more than 20 different events at COP, and made valuable connections to further our work to end the use of carbon-based fuels. No matter what the results of COP end up being, historically, convenings like it are valuable for the role that not only the public sector but that also the private sector and civil society play in the ecosystem: thousands of climate-committed thought leaders, experts, and activists who, like us, are working tirelessly to preserve the health and stability of the planet. We’re excited — and determined — to defeat climate change.
