IMO Comes Under Fire from Green Groups over CO2 Inaction

Regulation of vessel speeds would reduce CO2 (file image/pixabay)

Environmentalist groups active in the marine space have criticised the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for failing to recognise the need for urgent action on climate change.

According to the Brussels-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) Transport & Environment (T&E), calls for urgent action on shipping's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were met with "heavy push-back" at an IMO meeting held in London last week.

"The IMO meeting heard that ship GHG emissions are rising again and need to peak soon, but key flag states and developing countries blocked an agreement to prioritise and develop measures for immediate short-term emission reductions," said John Maggs, senior policy advisor at Seas At Risk and president of the environmentalist umbrella group Clean Shipping Coalition.

Given the proven effectiveness of slow-steaming in reducing GHG emissions from shipping, regulating ship speed is "an obvious, immediate measure", T&E said.

"Operational speed reduction is the only measure on the table that can deliver the substantial and immediate short-term emissions reductions that the Paris agreement demands," said Bill Hemmings, shipping director at T&E.

A veteran shipping executive has criticised industry pressure groups for stalling action on climate change at the IMO. Shipping should, said Andrew Craig-Bennett, embrace "disruptive technology" and switch to a modern version of sail power to curb its GHG output.

The latest report from the World Metereorological Organisation put globally average concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at 403.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2016, an increase from the 400 ppm benchmark level recorded in 2015 and beyond which temperature increases are regarded as inevitable, UK-based newspaper the Guardian reported Monday.