Welcome back to the Sustainability Dispatch!

DIRECTORS' COLUMN

Marine conservation is essential for maintaining biodiversity, protecting ecosystems, and ensuring sustainable resources for future generations. At EC2, we work through collaborations regarding both non-extractive and extractive approaches to balance ecological health with human needs.

Non-extractive conservation includes marine protected areas (MPAs) and ecotourism, which allow ecosystems and species to recover while generating economic and environmental benefits to humans. Extractive conservation focuses on regulated fishing, aquaculture, and marine biotechnology. Addressing marine pollution root causes and climate mitigation is critical to help protect ocean ecosystems.

In this issue, we highlight the scientific research being developed to support our efforts by providing data on marine biodiversity, ecosystem health and the impacts of climate change. Collaboration between governments, industries, and communities is essential to ensure the long-term health of our oceans and ultimately, many economies and importantly, many communities.

Catalina López, GCMP Director Tania Miranda, EC2 Director

Supporting Clean Shipping Efforts

Shipping, though the most energy-efficient transportation mode, accounts for nearly 3% of global emissions and represents 5% of global oil demand. To address this, in July 2023, the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Now, its 175 member states need to decide on policies that will help meet these targets, through both a technical and an economic measure that will come into force in 2027.

The key question that remains is how these crucial policies will be designed, and whether they will be ambitious enough to deliver shipping’s climate commitments.

As the IMO works to finalize an agreement on such measures—which will be decided during the next Marine Environment Protection Committee in April—an ambitious and unified Latin American front on this key policy (pricing emissions from ships) would help ensure a better outcome for the region’s low carbon future and the prosperity of our communities. EC2 is hard at work to ensure stakeholders in LATAM are thus well informed with the latest research available. You can read more about this issue in English here and in Spanish here.

PUBLICATIONS

Navigating the Regulatory Seas: Financing a Sustainable Maritime Future

The maritime industry is the world’s largest contributor to trade yet is also responsible for 3% of global carbon emissions. The sector faces mounting pressure from governments, investors, and civil society to reduce its carbon footprint and adopt more sustainable practices. This becomes even more relevant as maritime trade volumes could triple by 2050. New stringent regulations by the IMO and the European Union play a key role in driving sustainability by setting global emissions reduction targets. But while these frameworks have encouraged action, challenges remain—very particularly in developing nations, such as many in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—where outdated infrastructure, limited access to capital, and increasing climate-related risks, hinder progress.

This white paper by Tania Miranda, EC2 Director and Soffía Alarcón, IOA non-resident fellow, explores financing solutions for shipping decarbonization, particularly on the port side, focusing on innovative instruments such as green bonds, sustainability-linked loans, and other sustainable finance mechanisms. It also highlights the importance of partnerships among governments, development banks, and private financial institutions to address funding gaps.

See Report

Descargas de los Residuos de los Depuradores: Normativas Hemisféricas (In Spanish only)

?Cómo están regulando los países la contaminación marina del transporte marítimo? Esta actualización de un informe del Instituto de las Américas analiza a diciembre 2024 las medidas de mitigación hemisféricas a las descargas de las aguas de lavado de los depuradores de los barcos. Con más de 10 gigatoneladas de residuos vertidos al mar cada a?o, ?qué soluciones pueden impulsar a la industria naviera hacia un futuro más sustentable?

En 2020, la Organización Marítima Internacional impuso un límite de 0.5% en el contenido de azufre de los combustibles marinos con el propósito de reducir la contaminación atmosférica del sector. Ya que los combustibles de bajo contenido de azufre son más costosos, muchas embarcaciones cumplen con esta regulación utilizando sistemas de limpieza de gases de escape, conocidos como depuradores, que utilizan agua de mar para filtrar dichos gases. Sus aguas residuales, que son descargadas al océano sin tratamiento previo, son hasta 100 veces más ácidas y contienen metales pesados, contaminando el mar, afectando la vida marina y contribuyendo a la acidificación oceánica.

Ver Reporte

Marine Prosperity Areas: A framework for aligning ecological restoration and human well-being using area-based protections

The new publication outlines a holistic approach to ocean conservation that proposes strategic financial investments to enhance human prosperity alongside ecological recovery. In collaboration with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, and many other institutions, GCMP’s Director Catalina López-Sagástegui co-authored this comprehensive framework for Marine Prosperity Areas (MPpA) in Frontiers in Marine Science.

The MPpA model employs strategic financial investments and community partnerships to integrate ecological conservation, economic growth, environmental responsibility, and social policy, benefiting both people and the planet. It strives to become a key tool in achieving global conservation goals, including the 30x30 target of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework—which aims to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.

See Report

UPCOMING EVENTS

Webinar gratuito: Regulación de las Descargas de Aguas Residuales del Sector Marítimo – Medidas Hemisféricas

Marzo 6 | 9:00 am (hora Pacífico)

Presentaremos los hallazgos clave de nuestro reciente?reporte? sobre las medidas adoptadas en la región.?Contaremos con la participación de expertos en?transporte marítimo sostenible, regulaciones ambientales y estrategias de descarbonización?para discutir el impacto de estas tecnologías y las mejores prácticas para avanzar hacia un?sector marítimo más limpio y sostenible.

Regístrate aquí

2nd Binational Forum on Sustainable Maritime Transport & Ports in the Three Californias

June 26-27 | Ensenada, Baja California, México

For a 2nd?year in a row, we will bring together key stakeholders from government and port authorities, maritime & logistics companies, as well as academia and communities from the Las Californias region (Baja California, Baja California Sur, and California, US), to mobilize concrete actions towards a more sustainable shipping sector.?

More details here

EC2 In the News

Mexico Supports Ambitious Climate Measure at the UN’s International Maritime Organization

Mexico has recently backed an ambitious climate measure at the International Maritime Organization through a flat, universal fee on shipping carbon emissions. Read piece?on page 9.

'Marine Prosperity Areas’ Represent a New Hope in Conservation

In a new study published Feb. 6 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, a multinational team of marine scientists and economists unveil a comprehensive framework for Marine Prosperity Areas, or MPpAs.?Read article here.