Dear Friends,
In early 2024 the United Nations Global Compact invited me to join its Ocean Stewardship Coalition, which seeks to accelerate our transition to a net-zero, resilient, and equitable economy. Participation includes attending the Global Compact’s events held during the U.N. General Assembly in September of each year, when world leaders converge on New York City. During that same week, New York hosts Climate Week, the world’s largest convening of business, government, and civil society from the climate sector.
This year was my first opportunity to attend as a delegate. It was an immense privilege to represent the Port of Seattle and ports generally in meetings with maritime and government leaders. Among the many insights I gleaned, there were a few key takeaways:
Democratization of energy
Energy is the oxygen of the economy. Abundant, cheap energy facilitates food production, logistics, and manufacturing, and reduces the cost of living. The advent of abundant, cheap renewable energy replacing fossil fuels will mean a democratization of energy — an era in which fossil-poor regions will no longer rely on fossil-rich regions. Nation-states will become more autonomous, the middle class will grow in emerging markets, and geopolitics will look nothing like the post–Cold War order of the last 30 years.
First movers in clean energy adoption will have a strategic advantage but also run the risk of betting on the wrong technology. The Port of Seattle is a recognized leader in this space, and we will need to make strategic decisions in the next few years as we deliberate over investments in the enabling infrastructure for clean energy (industrial-scale batteries, microgrids, hydrogen fuel cells, etc.). We can’t make these decisions in a bubble, since we operate within a system of other ports, ocean carriers, cargo owners, and fleet owners. While we can’t unilaterally determine the future of clean energy use at ports, we do have the power to convene the stakeholders — and we will exercise that power to ensure that the Port of Seattle continues to lead.
Consensus around carbon costing
Business and industry leaders recognize that the economy and regulatory environment is changing; to stay competitive, they also recognize the need to adapt and change. Historically, industries have not been held to account for the negative externalities associated with their operations, and as a result people, communities, and ecosystems paid the price. The tide is turning, however. I was particularly pleased to learn that a consensus has emerged among business, government, and civil society around the need for a universal cost for carbon. Currently, the International Maritime Organization is negotiating its next set of stricter pollution controls with the maritime industry, supporting efforts to achieve net zero by mid-century.
Making polluters pay creates an incentive for industries to innovate and problem-solve, and this relies, again, on policy frameworks developed in good faith via partnerships and with consensus. Right now, we are at an exciting time to shape what we want our future to look like, through the emerging body of best practices and testing out policy proposals and strategies for decarbonizing.
International partnerships matter
As the Port of Seattle has intensified our efforts to be the greenest port in North America, our need to be a part of international conversations has intensified, too. Executive Director Stephen P. Metruck and his Executive Leadership Team have stepped up, and all five Commissioners have traveled extensively to raise the profile of our Port. We’ve developed partnerships with major ports in Asia and Europe, with leading think tanks in the U.S. and Europe, and with key trade associations representing the cruise and cargo industries — all of whom are working toward maritime decarbonization.
My invitation to the U.N. Global Compact and Climate Week was an outgrowth of those efforts. Recent Port participation at COP (“Conference of the Parties,” the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change international meeting) and at the annual International Ports and Harbors Association meetings were as well. As was clear to me in New York, a big part of successfully managing the transition from a fossil economy to a green economy will just be showing up. I look forward to continued participation in the Ocean Stewardship Coalition and other international venues guiding our decarbonization efforts.
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