EMEA News
German Government Backs Robust Response to Shipping GHG Emissions
The German environment ministry is backing a "business-focused approach" to limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping at an event held prior to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) next week.
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety has pledged its support for the Ambition 1.5 C:Global Shipping's Action Plan which members of the shipping industry and UNFCCC delegates will discuss at a 'decarbonisation summit' ahead of the UN Conference of the Parties (COP23) meeting in Bonn on November 13.
"The need for shipping to contribute it's 'fair share' of GHG reductions has catalyzed the need for a business-focused approach that pushes ahead of regulatory mechanisms," a statement from the ministry said.
The statement continued: "The group [at the decarbonisation summit] will use the reviewed and accelerated 'pathway' developed by the Sustainable Shipping Initiative as a framework for the Action Plan and resultant strategies held within the Action Plan will consider all active industry environmental work streams and initiatives."
"If international shipping were a country, it would already be the sixth largest emitter – and as such would rank even before Germany," German environment minister Jochen Flasbarth said.
"As we are committed to decarbonization at the national level to reach the ambitious long-term temperature goals of the Paris Agreement, we must also pursue immediate and ambitious action to reduce the GHG emissions of international shipping," the minister added.
