Geneva Talks Target Shipping Emissions Cap by 2020

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday February 17, 2015

194 nations last week agreed at the Geneva Climate Change Talks to a negotiating text which could see international emissions caps placed on the shipping industry by 2020.

“In meeting the 2 °C objective, Parties agree on the need for global sectoral emission reduction targets for international aviation and maritime transport and on the need for all Parties to work through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to develop global policy frameworks to achieve these targets,” reads Section D of the published draft text.

The "2 °C objective" is understood to be an agreed aim to maintain global warming at no more than two degrees Celcius above pre-industrialisation levels.

The negotiating text is still in draft and a final agreement is expected to be reached in Paris by the end of 2015.

Provisions of the agreement to take effect from 2020.

Some proposals are calling for the agreement to be legally binding, but the form which any legal instrument might take is not year clear.

According to reports, some climate activists are skeptical that provisions on shipping emissions will make the final agreement.

“The issue is not even on the agenda of the IMO, the UN’s shipping body,” said lobbyist Transport & Environment’s Bill Hemmings.

Earlier this month, the International Chamber of Shipping said a global 0.5 percent sulfur cap was likely to be introduced by the IMO by 2020.