While many have traditionally associated us island states as inevitable
victims of the warming planet, the opposite is true.
We are leading the rush to the greatest global energy transformation the
world has seen since the industrial revolution.
Lying out in the middle of our vast oceans, this might not seem a natural
choice for our islands. But after years of subjecting our fragile
economies and communities to the high cost of imported fossil fuels, we are
moving to a new energy paradigm.
In 2008, a global oil price spike forced the Marshall Islands Government to
declare a national economic emergency, with the nation no longer able to pay
for the imported diesel used to generate up to 90% of the country’s power.
After the energy policy review that followed, the Marshall Islands chose a
different path. More than 95% of its vast outer island communities –
spread out over a million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean – now power
their livelihoods by the energy of the sun.
El Hierro (Spain) |
Pushing ahead
Through initiatives like the Majuro Declaration for Climate
Leadership and the CARICOM Regional Energy Policy, we have set
ourselves some of the world’s most ambitious targets for renewable energy and
energy efficiency, throwing down the gauntlet for the big emitters to follow
our lead.