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Dubai: There are few people iron ore billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest cannot pick up the phone and call.
But when Dubai’s port authority knocked back his request to sail a 75-metre ship powered by green ammonia into the Gulf city’s bay marina, he opted not to try to pull any strings.
Andrew Forrest and CEO of Fortescue Future Industries Mark Hutchinson on board the Green Pioneer, which is berthed in Dubai.Credit: Lucy Cormack
“I actually thought it’s better to not do that. It’s better to be blocked. Sail it in, then be blocked and make it a demonstration to the entire world’s ports,” he said.
“This is what you’re doing, you’re actually stopping the world from being able to save itself if you don’t immediately change regulations to let the ships in … instead of blocking pollution-free ships, prioritise them immediately.”
It’s a conundrum the Fortescue boss and born-again climate crusader is butting up against everywhere: ships powered by ammonia are not permitted to berth in any port under maritime law – yet.
Standing on the deck of the prototype green ammonia dual-fuel ship in Dubai harbour – which Fortescue was forced to sail using normal sustainable fuel – Forrest said the world could not afford to let “pieces of paper around on a desk be the reason why this planet cooked itself”.
COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber speaks during the summit.Credit: Bloomberg
The Green Pioneer dropped anchor in Dubai last week, travelling from its base in Singapore to be displayed on the sidelines of the COP28 UN climate event, which runs until December 12.
Forrest said he would give shipping ports and authorities four months before he comes banging on their doors to push through regulatory change he says is vital to decarbonise shipping. He predicted Fortescue would be powering 270,000-tonne iron ore freighters with green ammonia “this decade”.
Ammonia is a colourless gas that can be made synthetically by combining nitrogen with hydrogen. When it is created using renewable energy sources such as wind, solar or hydropower, it is considered green ammonia.
Fortescue last year announced it was ditching fossil fuel-related operating expenses such as gas, diesel and Australian carbon credits in favour of renewables in its push to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.
Forrest’s attendance at the annual climate summit caps off a year racing around the world lecturing academics, including health and climate specialists, on health and climate and the dangers of lethal humidity, a message he will continue to spread in Dubai.
He keeps attending the events, he says, despite believing strongly that the constitutional basis of the UN summit needs to be rewritten.
“If you let these COPs’ very direction be ruled … and their fundamental constitutions to be influenced by the fossil fuel sector, then don’t be surprised it turns into a great big greenwash,” he told this masthead.
“COP must be demanded by people who are prepared to make them organised and run for the industries which will save the planet.”
COP28 is being led by the United Arab Emirates’ Dr Sultan Al Jaber, who is also the chief executive of the country’s state-owned oil company. He has faced criticism for giving the fossil fuel industry an outsized influence over the summit.
Forrest insisted leaders must not to be swayed by an “extremely noisy minority” in the fossil fuel lobby, urging “they are a minority. The world wants you to go green”.
“The end of the oil and gas sector will be highly profitable … and leaders of industries do need to be guided by their powers to say, actually, we don’t want you to exploit the profit, we want you to change.”
Late on Saturday, the Albanese government announced it had joined more than 100 countries at COP28 pledging to triple the global renewable energy generation capacity, and double the global average annual energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
Other major energy exporters, including the United States, Canada and Norway, are also backing the pledge.
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