Symmonds wants big shipping companies to pull their weight in climate fight

Barbados’ Foreign Minister, Kerrie Symmonds, wants big transport companies to do more about climate change.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday on the Marine Transport Emissions Control Bill, Symmonds highlighted the disparity between the “obscene profits” made by oil, gas, and shipping companies and their slow progress towards transitioning to greener practices.

“There is a community of people who make obscene profits in the business of oil and gas. There is a community of people who make obscene profits in the business of shipping, maritime transport, but when we look at the maritime transport and the speed with which it is transforming itself into a green and energy-efficient sector, we realise that they are lagging far behind,” he told his parliamentary colleagues.

Symmonds pointed out that even individuals in modest housing in Barbados had adopted climate-friendly practices, while major global industries like big shipping and cruise companies were slow to change.

“We’ve got people in board houses in Barbados that have made sure they got a bicycle that is electric; they have made the transformation. We’ve got people in board houses in Barbados who have photovoltaic cells on top of their roofs… You cannot have a major global industrial sector like international shipping, like the cruise sector, of which Barbados is a beneficiary in part, but they extract more from the Barbados economy than they put into it. We cannot expect that they forever will be free of having to carry some burden towards the transformation process.”

He acknowledged that these companies bring money to Barbados and welcomed the economic benefits. However, he insisted there was an obligation for the international cruise sector and oil and gas transportation industry to participate more actively in the transition to sustainable practices.

The minister highlighted that new, cleaner ships were being built, but they would not be ready for several years. And he called on the big transport companies to step up and do their fair share in protecting the environment.

“All of the time we are talking about this problem, others are profiteering but not moving with nimbleness; that is the message that has to be made in the international community. That yes, Barbados welcomes these vessels, welcomes the benefit, but we feel that there is also an obligation on the part of the international cruise sector, oil and gas transportation sector, that they too must be part of the transition.”