SUVA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Representatives from South Pacific Island states and international organizations discussed how Fiji can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius here on Wednesday.
The three-day Pacific Maritime Technical Officers workshop is organized by Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), supported by the Fijian government and the University of the South Pacific (USP).
Fiji's Assistant Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Vijay Nath said the adoption of an initial strategy on greenhouse gas emissions reduction will take place in Fiji in April.
As President of the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23), Fiji was all too aware of how critical it was for all sectors to play their part to maintain global temperature rise at no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, Nath said.
He said the participants of this workshop were expected to make formal contributions on technical papers that could be further discussed for adoption at the International Maritime Organization meeting in April.
By 2030, Fiji plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 30 percent and has targeted three key areas to achieve this reduction. This will include having almost 100 percent electricity through renewable energy sources in the next 13 years, having hybrid and electric vehicles in the private and public transportation sector and upgrading Fiji's maritime travel as well.
The renewable initiatives outlined as part of the three sub-sectors are expected to reduce Fiji's carbon dioxide emissions by 627,000 tons of carbon dioxide per annum against the business as usual baseline.
"If successfully implemented, the actions of the roadmap will also have significant co-benefits in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals -- an international commitment that Fiji is also very passionate about," said Fiji's minister responsible for climate change Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
The largest contribution for carbon dioxide mitigation up through 2030 in this sub-sector comes from biomass-based power generation which includes sustainable biomass plantations and waste-to-energy, followed by hydro-power generation, solar PV generation and grid extension/improvement and grid storage.
Other renewable energy generation technologies such as wind, geothermal, and wastewater treatment and biogas have the potential to further contribute to mitigation and transformational change in Fiji.