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Welcome back to the Sustainability Dispatch! As 2023 wrapped up, IOA’s EC2 (tiny but mighty) team was spread across the world to cover the many relevant climate-related events that interest us. GCMP’s director, Catalina, was covering the largest book fair in the Western Hemisphere—FIL Guadalajara—promoting science literacy and communication. Tania, EC2 director, was in Mexico City launching our new Mexico’s Sustainable Shipping Champions initiative and in Paris, talking about the importance of blue carbon ecosystems in a law-related congress. Our non-resident fellows, Soffia and Carlos, were in Dubai at the 28th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, listening to climate negotiations and sharing knowledge at panel conversations. Excited to kick off this new year by announcing our forthcoming convening on Sustainable Maritime Transport & Ports, continue reading and may 2024 be an amazing year filled with sustainable, climate-friendly adventures! |
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Sustainable Shipping Champions Launched |
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On December 13 in Mexico City, the Mexican Chamber of the Maritime Transportation Industry (CAMEINTRAM), the IOA and WWF Mexico launched the Champions for Sustainable Shipping in Mexico initiative, which seeks to encourage all actors involved in the industry to emerge as global leaders in defense of true sustainable practices in the shipping and ports sectors, promoting their decarbonization and improving the well-being of communities and ecosystems alike. Through this call to action, we seek to mobilize relevant stakeholders, particularly those in the private sector, to support transformational change towards a low-carbon |
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and sustainable maritime and port industries in Mexico that minimize waste, environmental and health impacts, and promote a just transition. In the long term, the goal is to focus on infrastructure, production, storage and supply of scalable zero-emission fuels, including net-Zero operations along the value chain. The Champions can be any non-governmental actor that is directly or indirectly involved in the sustainable development of the maritime and port sectors, and committed to the objectives outlined above. More details can be found here. Join us! |
| Getting to Zero Coalition – LATAM Taskforce meeting convened |
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On December 12th, the World Maritime Forum’s Getting to Zero Coalition convened a meeting with its Latin America Taskforce—which includes shipowners, cargo owners, think tanks and other organizations that work to accelerate the total decarbonization of shipping. The IOA’s EC2, as a Taskforce member, participated by flagging the need to include maritime transport in country-wide and regional green taxonomies and by inviting other members to our upcoming Forum on Sustainable Shipping. |
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International Book Fair in Guadalajara 2023 |
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The Gulf of California Marine Program and dataMares were again present at the 2023 International Book Fair in Guadalajara from November 24th – 28th promoting science literacy and communication. EC2’s Catalina López moderated two panels during the 37th edition of the FIL. With Luis Miguel Ceballos, the first panel touched upon the importance of art in science communication, while the second panel included a discussion on the importance of biodiversity to combat against climate change. This panel included Dr.Gerardo Ceballos from UNAM and Marisol Plascencia, Director of the Centro para la Biodiversidad Marina y la Conservación. Lastly, we hosted two additional panels with speakers from different academic institutions, and co-hosted the FIL is Science reception. |
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Last November, our EC2 Director Tania Miranda participated as a panelist at the International Bar Association’s 2023 Annual Congress in Paris. She shared the stage with speakers from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) to talk about the importance of blue carbon ecosystems to fight climate change. Blue carbon refers to carbon dioxide absorbed and stored in the ocean and other coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves and salt marshes. She highlighted the need to harness new financing mechanisms and to internalize the wealth of services and benefits provided by these ecosystems to humans in order to properly protect and conserve them. |
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UN Conference of the Parties (COP28) |
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The most important yearly climate summit was convened by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai, UEA, from November 30th to December 12th, and our Non-Resident Fellow Soffía Alarcón Díaz was on the ground engaging with relevant stakeholders. Soffía participated at a panel discussion on “Instruments to channel investments towards environmentally sustainable objectives”, organized by the Ministry of Finance - Chile in partnership with CCAP and CLG CHILE. She pointed out that, even though the design and adoption of sustainable taxonomies usually begins with a voluntary approach, their effective implementation will only be |
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possible to the extent that mechanisms are established to ensure their mandatory compliance, followed by secondary legislation. Soffía also gave an interview for CNN En Español on the relevance of the private sector’s role in the fight against climate change. And, if you want a brief recap on the importance of climate finance for the fulfillment of international commitments made under the Paris Agreement, you can always re-read this brief by our EC2 Non-Resident Fellow Carlos Correa from last October. |
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|  | As time flies this new year, we want to flag our forthcoming Binational Forum on Sustainable Maritime Transport & Ports in the Three Californias, which will take place on February 14th and 15th in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. In the face of increasing global pressures to combat climate change and the determined efforts led by the IMO towards shipping decarbonization, this forum seeks to bring together key stakeholders and global thought leaders from throughout the value chain of maritime transport, to initiate a dialogue on how to mitigate environmental impacts and set ambitious goals for shipping and ports. You can find more details here! |
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| The Institute of the Americas’ Environment & Climate Change Program (EC2) strives to catalyze climate leadership amongst the private sector and local/regional governments in the Americas, to promote sustainable growth, tackle climate change and minimize environmental impacts in the region with the goal of protecting its rich marine and land-based natural capital. |
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You can explore other things the Institute is working on through our website and following us on social media! |
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