EDF, ZESTAs to be Latest NGOs Taking on Consultative Status at IMO

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday December 7, 2022

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association (ZESTAs) are the latest NGO to take on consultative status at the IMO, in a sign of the growing influence of environmental campaigners at the UN body.

The EDF and ZESTAs have been awarded the status provisionally ahead of crucial talks in the Marine Environment Protection Committee next week that will determine the IMO's future strategy on GHG emissions. The decision is subject to approval next year.

"Environmental Defense Fund steps into its consultative status at a pivotal moment, when climate science trajectories show that global shipping emissions must peak and decline within this decade," Mark Brownstein, senior vice president of energy at EDF, said in a statement on the organisation's website.

"We are grateful to International Maritime Organization member states for recognizing the added value our organization's expertise can bring to the table."

The status allows the EDF to attend IMO meetings and provide input into the organisation's work developing regulations.

The IMO's website lists 88 international NGOs with consultative status, including Greenpeace since 1991, the Clean Shipping Coalition since 2011 and Pacific Environment since 2011. Bunker industry body IBIA has had its consultative status since 2005, using it to provide the industry's feedback on regulations affecting fuel supply.

"Any organization seeking consultative status with IMO has to demonstrate considerable expertise as well as the capacity to contribute, within its field of competence, to the work of IMO," the IMO explains on its website.

"It must also show that it has no means of access to the work of IMO through other organizations already in consultative status and that it is "truly international" in its membership, namely that it has a range of members covering a broad geographical scope and, usually, more than one region."