Solomon Islands

• This move makes them the first countries outside the Pacific region to endorse the call for an international pact to transition away from oil, gas and coal.
• This is why today I'm honoured to announce that Antigua and Barbuda join our Pacific friends in calling for a negotiation of a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
• Timor-Leste stands in solidarity with Pacific nations and is formally joining the call for the negotiation of a Fossil Fuel Treaty.
• Its mission is simple — to halt new fossil fuel ventures, phase out existing ones and fund a fair shift to clean energy.

• SEATTLE, Sept. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seabourn , the leader in ultra-luxury voyages and expedition travel, will embark on its first-ever expedition voyages to the South Pacific and the Kimberley region in 2024 on board its newest ultra-luxury expedition ship, Seabourn Pursuit .
• And, of course, guests will experience these bucket-list destinations in the comfort of our signature Seabourn ultra-luxury offerings and service."
• Seabourn Pursuit will offer a number of expedition experiences designed to immerse guests in the beauty and wonders of the destinations.
• The Kimberley - Seabourn Pursuit will offer six 10-day voyages in the Kimberley region between Broome and Darwin in June, July and August 2024.

• A revised strategy to reduce global shipping emissions has emerged from two weeks of intense talks in London.
• It marks a significant increase in the industry’s climate ambition.

We calculate the strategy will require cuts in emissions per ship of up to 60% by 2030 and as much as 91% by 2040. This means the days of fossil-fuelled ships are numbered.

Edging closer to limiting warming to 1.5℃

• The industry should do its fair share in keeping global warming below 1.5℃.
• The revised strategy’s targets are not as high as those called for by the science and the most ambitious governments.
• Climate Action Tracker’s most recent analysis concluded the “highly insufficient” initial strategy put shipping on a pathway consistent with 3-4℃ of warming.
• This shows the revised strategy still does not align global shipping with the emission-reduction pathway needed to avoid more than 1.5℃ of warming.

What are the strategy’s key elements?

• It’s big enough for the giant container ship Ever Given to steam through.
• Importantly, though, IMO member states agreed to set targets for emissions on a “well-to-wake” basis, covering emissions from both fuel production and combustion.
• Being required to achieve these reductions will fundamentally and rapidly change the sector’s technology and energy supply chains.
• As a result of these political differences, more work needs to be done to resolve the specifics of the emissions pricing mechanism.
• Read more:
  Marshall Islands, a nation at the heart of global shipping, fights for climate justice

Strategy is still a work in progress

• Pressure from Pacific Island states and increased public scrutiny forced IMO member states to commit to higher levels of ambition than many had wanted to accept.
• Continued pressure will be needed, though, to ensure the measures adopted deliver on the ambition of the IMO strategy.
• In sum, the revised strategy is a modest win, but the battle is far from over.

• The Chinese leader said he placed “great importance” on the relationship with New Zealand.
• Both businesslike, Hipkins made sure to stress his country was open for business too.
• There might even be scope for cooperation over China’s position on a political settlement of the war in Ukraine.

Claim and counter-claim

• So New Zealand walks a fine line with China, and beneath the diplomatic niceties there is a growing fault line.
• Mahuta has said the conversation was merely “robust”, but there’s no denying China’s combativeness over criticism or threat.
• More recently, China blocked Lithuanian exports after the tiny nation allowed Taiwan to establish a de-facto embassy there.

Security and circumspection

• In 2018, New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) stated it had “established links” between the Chinese Ministry of State Security and a global campaign of commercial intellectual property theft.
• New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has also recently noted agents from a “small number of foreign states” were becoming “increasingly aggressive”, but chose not to identify the culprits.
• Read more:
  Approach with caution: why NZ should be wary of buying into the AUKUS security pact

NATO and AUKUS

• How long the diplomatic tightrope can be walked is an open question, given the prime minister’s forthcoming attendance at the NATO summit in Lithuania in July, and the pending decision on AUKUS.
• And while it’s never explicit, AUKUS is a response to the perceived threat of China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
• Despite its own rapid militarisation, the Chinese government has condemned AUKUS as reflecting a “Cold War mentality” that involves a “path of error and danger”.