Japan has signed a letter of intent with the governor of California to establish a green shipping corridor over the Pacific.
The agreement signed between governor Newsom and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan will also aim to commercialize zero-emission fuels.
Allyson Browne, climate campaign manager for ports at the NGO Pacific Environment, said that “we applaud the newest collaboration between California and Japan to clean up our ports and end ship pollution, and we urge that their collaboration focus on driving immediate emissions reductions, scaling absolute zero well-to-wake emissions technologies and ultimately achieving 100% zero-emission shipping by 2040”.
Bilateral green corridor pacts, rather than an attempt to negotiate a global agreement that will come into force simultaneously worldwide, appear to be the plat du jour for 2023. Other green corridor agreements have been signed between Los Angeles, Long Beach and Shanghai, while Singapore has signed a similar agreement. Busan, South Korea, agreed last November to form a green corridor to the Port of Tacoma, Washington State, last November.