IMO Working Group Pushes Through Ship Efficiency Compromise

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday October 23, 2020

An International Maritime Organization (IMO) working group has opted to push forward with a compromise plan aimed at increasing ships' fuel efficiency, with environmental groups arguing the change does not go far enough.

The IMO's Intersessional Working Group on Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Ships met online this week to examine binding short-term measures that could be used to start putting the shipping industry on the path towards decarbonisation.

The draft plan drawn up by the working group involves holding ships to both operational and technical carbon intensity requirements as a means of reducing their emissions. The basis for it would be the Energy Efficiency for Existing Ships Index (EEXI) devised by Japan, which seeks to measure vessels' performance.

Environmental non-governmental organisations expressed their disappointment in the progress made, saying the measures agreed this week would only cut shipping's GHG emissions by 0.65-1.3% by 2030. 

"Governments have ridden roughshod over the Paris Agreement by agreeing a measure that will see ship emissions grow for decades to come," Faig Abbasov, shipping programme director at Transport & Environment, said in an emailed statement.

"The UN maritime agency again showed the world it can only deliver cosmetic changes.

"EU countries should work through the European Green Deal to fill the gap left by the IMO."

Ship & Bunker News Team
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