Equal Routes

📣 Biofuels won't help international #shipping meet its climate targets. If you want to learn why, listen to our Director, Elissama Menezes, in her interview on Lloyd's List's Shipping Podcast. #Biofuels 💸 distract from true clean solutions and green investments 🌽 increase deforestation rate and food security 📜 violate people's land rights Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gpbXp4PU

💡What if reducing underwater radiated noise #URN from shipping also improved energy efficiency and lowered fuel costs? Noise from #shipping is a form of ocean pollution that is often overlooked. It disrupts marine species’ communication and disproportionately affects people and coastal communities that depend on healthy oceans. 🐋 The good news: many of the measures that reduce ship noise can also improve energy efficiency – especially when intentionally aligned with decarbonization strategies. One example from BC Ferries, highlighted in the report Charting the Course to a Quiet Ocean (link in comments), shows how propulsion and propeller retrofit sea trials achieved: a 16-decibel noise reduction at 13.7 knots and up to 40% fuel savings at 14 knots. That means quieter ships can also be: • More fuel efficient • Lower emitting • More cost effective 🔊With the International Maritime Organization’s 2026 to 2027 Carbon Intensity Indicator review approaching, there is a real opportunity to intentionally align underwater noise reduction with energy efficiency policy. 🔗Link to the full report in the comments #MaritimePolicy #OceanHealth #Decarbonization #Pollution

📢 “For our Oceania communities, our relationship with sound has held strong ancestral connections acknowledging an understanding of our place within our Moana or Oceans. A Just and Equitable approach to limiting underwater radiated noise ensures our voices, our livelihoods as well as our Moana and everything that resides in her domain are protected.” - John Taukave M.A, Oceania Cultural Protocol, Technical Advisor and Researcher to Pacific Delegations at the International Maritime Organization 🌊 John’s case study in Equal Routes report Charting the Course to a Quiet Ocean (see link in the comments) highlights how ocean soundscapes are tied to identity, navigation, and community life. #UnderwaterNoise #URN #IMO #MaritimePolicy #Ocean #Equity #Justice #Shipping

We need to stop thinking in silos. When #shipping drives up demand for soy or palm oil, it creates a vacuum in food markets, one frequently filled by clearing forests or draining peatlands. That's indirect land use change, and it quietly erodes the climate benefits #biofuels are supposed to deliver. In a recent interview on the Lloyd's List Shipping Podcast, Equal Routes explored the connection between biofuels and the hidden costs of scaling them. A decarbonization strategy that destabilizes food prices and increases deforestation isn't a climate solution. It's a new set of social and economic risks with a green label on it. The International Maritime Organization must create a resilient shipping sector that uses models that account for the interconnection of water, energy, food, and land. Listen to the full Lloyd's List podcast episode 👉https://lnkd.in/gpcscpbT

#Biofuels are not a climate solution ⛔ ️ The Lloyd's List Shipping Podcast recently asked Equal Routes about biofuels and Indigenous Peoples' rights. Wherever feedstock crops like palm oil or soy expand, land tenure conflicts and labour exploitation tend to follow. Indigenous peoples cannot be an afterthought. Under UNDRIP, they have the right to protect their lands, cultures, and knowledge. The International Maritime Organization has an obligation to respect that, not a choice. Decarbonizing #shipping must not come at the cost of the communities least responsible for the climate crisis. Listen to the full Lloyd's List podcast episode 👉 https://lnkd.in/gpcscpbT

Two of the most effective tools we already have to decarbonize international shipping are speed reduction and #wind propulsion. In a recent interview on the Lloyd's List Shipping Podcast, Equal Routes spoke about the true green technologies vs false climate solutions such as #biofuels. #Shipping doesn't operate in a vacuum: If we want solutions that actually last, they have to exist at the intersection of climate, biodiversity, and equity. The International Maritime Organization must put in place rules that not just cut emissions, but also reduce pollution, protect ocean health, and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples and coastal communities. All at once. Listen to the full Lloyd's List podcast episode 👉https://lnkd.in/gpcscpbT