Recently, I was asked about how we can we finance the transition to lower our carbon emissions in marine as well as other forms of transport.  That is the crux of the issue that we face every day.

Believe it or not most people are willing to transition, the challenge is how. Isn’t that wonderful? It is, from my vantagepoint, we’re no longer needing to convince people that climate change is real.  Thanks to the countless scientists and the IPCC most people are willing, the question is how.

The funding challenge is real and it’s the hurdle that we now need to tackle. How do we fund it? How do we move fast enough? How do we ensure that we’re helping people transition from traditional industries to future proofed ones?  We’ve talked a lot about the need for funding in the region and the truth is we do need funding, but the nuance of it is, if there is a solid project with good fundamentals, there is no end of money chasing those projects, especially loan money.

We need loans but before we need loans we need more philanthropy, grants, venture capital and equity investments willing to either support project development or support riskier projects where the scale of the upside isn’t necessarily obvious in the short term.  The climate emergency was created first by ignorance, not understanding the impact the carbon in the atmosphere was having on the planet.  Secondly it was exacerbated by short term thinking, once we understood we didn’t do enough to change our actions.  We now know better.

If we accelerate our actions, we have an opportunity to participate in a future that is in harmony with nature and extraordinary for all of us. It will require us to have a little gumption, take some calculated risks, and work in parallel across a plethora of possible solutions in hopes that the best ones evolve quickly for implementation.

There are for me three main options for funding the zero-carbon transition especially if we’re talking about the maritime industry.

1. Energy Efficiency – Look at energy efficiency first, what are the ways that we can cut emissions by changing our behaviour.  How can we use data to determine the additionally opportunities that exist?  We’re working with a company called Signol.io and we’re hoping that they can assist us in understanding how changing pilot behaviour by listening to pilots and understanding the efficiencies that can be gained can help save money and carbon in the atmosphere.
2. Invest in New Solutions – Another opportunity is in coming up with new solutions and using those solutions to fund greater development.
3. Electric tug boats,
4. Peace boat Eco Ship
5. Integrated energy marketplace – an initiative that we’re pulling together across the region.
6. Carbon Dividend – encourage the private sector to invest in solutions that equate to their investment in fossil fuels so that they can benefit from the future while they phase out the past.
7. Economies of scale – Create economies of scale by working together across the region.

We have wonderful regional multilaterals, private sector and indigenous financial institutions who despite a complex operational framework are really trying to aid in funding the transition.

How is your industry funding your transition to zero carbon?

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