ICS "Fully Supports" Global Climate Change Deal at COP21

ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe, says shipping "should be able to reduce its CO2 per tonne-kilometre by 50 percent before 2050."

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) Monday said that, as a representative of the international shipping industry at COP21 in Paris, the organisation "fully supports" a global climate change deal, adding that the ambitious CO2 reductions aimed for by the industry will be best achieved if further regulation is led by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

"Mandatory regulations already adopted by IMO will ensure that all ships built after 2025 will be at least 30 percent more efficient than ships operating today," Peter Hinchliffe, ICS Secretary General.

"Combined with further technical and operational measures plus new technology, international shipping should be able to reduce its CO2 per tonne-kilometre by 50 percent before 2050."

ICS says that the shipping industry is part of the solution to addressing climate change, and notes that international shipping recognises its obligation to participate in global CO2 reduction measures.

"These dramatic further CO2 reductions will be genuine and real. We will have bigger ships, better engines, cleaner fuels and smarter speed management," said Hinchliffe.

"The mandatory worldwide use by ships of low sulfur fuel to reduce air pollution will provide a further significant incentive to improve fuel efficiency."

Hinchliffe says that IMO is currently developing further global measures with the support of the shipping industry, adding that "significant" CO2 reductions already achieved by international shipping in recent years that suggest the industry is already well on its way to carbon neutral growth.

IMO's next step will see the collection of individual ships' CO2 emissions data, says Hinchliffe, a move that he says many in the industry would like to see made mandatory as soon as possible.

Last week, ICS said that "aggressive" fuel efficiency efforts being implemented by the global shipping industry, coupled with CO2 reduction measures by the IMO, are capable of delivering "far more ambitious" reductions in CO2 emissions than current government targets.