Gov. Arnold I. Palacios shakes hands with Francois Rogers, executive director of the Blue Planet Alliance, at the signing Monday of an MOU regarding the CNMI’s commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2045.
Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Francois Rogers, executive director of the Blue Planet Alliance, display copies of the MOU they signed on Monday at Aqua Resort Club. Also in photo are Guam Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio, CNMI Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, other officials, and stakeholders.
GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios on Monday at Aqua Resort Club signed a memorandum of understanding with the Blue Planet Alliance, pledging to go 100% renewable by 2045.
According to the Blue Planet Alliance’s website, it is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works “to get islands and countries around the world to legislatively mandate a commitment to 100% renewable energy by 2045.” It builds on climate change policies and initiatives of the Blue Planet Foundation, its sister organization in Hawaii.
The MOU signed by the governor does not bind the CNMI to any specific legislation, said Patricia Coleman, the co-lead of the Green Growth Initiative in the Commonwealth.
But the Blue Planet Alliance can offer technical advice and provide resources to help make renewable energy goals “actionable,” Coleman said.
Tina Sablan, the governor’s special assistant for climate policy and planning, and Coleman’s co-lead for the Green Growth Initiative, said the CNMI can create its own legislation that realizes 100% local renewable energy. The Blue Planet Alliance can be a “resource center” of policies that have worked around the world and the CNMI can use as models, she added.
The MOU and its execution will help fulfil some of the sustainable development goals set in the Green Growth Initiative, Sablan said.
In his remarks, the governor said climate change “poses a significant threat” to the environment and economy, and that “the time to act is now.”
“Today, with the partnership of Blue Planet Alliance, we reaffirm our commitment to accelerating the transitions to renewable energy,” he added.
“We will continue to invest in infrastructure that supports renewable energy generation and distribution, ensuring that clean power is accessible to the people of the Commonwealth,” the governor said.
For his part, Francois Rogers, the Blue Planet Alliance executive director, said the goal of his organization is to have “every island country in the world” start their path to 100% renewable energy.
“That’s the aim of the Blue Planet Alliance. The name alliance comes from that very theory — how do we collectively work together to make sure that every island has a pathway, and to support each other to make sure that that is achieved,” he said.
Later in the day, stakeholders with the Green Growth Initiative and Blue Planet Alliance conducted workshops to discuss how the CNMI could create policies that optimize its movement to renewable energy production.
