IMO Head: Progress in Talks for Reducing Shipping's CO2 Footprint a "Miracle"

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday September 18, 2017

Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Kitack Lim Wednesday, speaking at an industry conference in London, called progress in talks on how to reduce shipping's carbon footprint over the past few years "a miracle," Climate Home reports.

Lim said IMO member states are "getting closer" to an agreement on how to move forward to reduce such emissions from shipping.

"Next year really will be a time when the world will expect the IMO member states to deliver a vision, as a first stage in the IMO roadmap," said Lim.

As Ship & Bunker reported in October, the 70th session of IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70) agreed to develop a Road Map for addressing CO2 emissions from international shipping, with initial CO2 reduction commitments to be agreed to by 2018.

"We absolutely do need targets," said Magda Kopczynska, Director of Maritime Transport at the European Commission's transport department, at the conference.

"We have to decide now what we are going to do; we can't say: we will do something in 2030."

Last week, Ship & Bunker reported that new reasearch by "Shipping in Changing Climates" (SCC) suggested that zero emission ships will meaningfully penetrate the market by 2030.

Ship & Bunker News Team
To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at editor@shipandbunker.com