One Planet Summit Sees States Renew Call to Align Shipping Emission Reduction Efforts with Paris Agreement

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday December 13, 2017

35 states, including UK, France, Denmark, Germany, Canada, the Marshall Islands, Chile, and New Zealand, have signed the "Tony De Brum Declaration" calling for urgent action to align shipping industry actions with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, World Maritime News reports.

Notably, the U.S. was not among the signatories after having pulled out of the agreement back in June.

"This is a welcome commitment to deliver an ambitious climate deal for the shipping sector, and it's significant that EU member states have been joined by Chile, Mexico and others to signal the importance of getting next year's IMO carbon cutting agreement right" said John Maggs of NGO Seas At Risk.

"As the declaration makes clear, time is running out for the International Maritime Organisation and the shipping industry to deliver a fair contribution to tackling the climate crisis. A 2018 deal in line with limiting warming to below 1.5C requires a strong long term decarbonisation goal and short-term measures, like speed reduction, that will result in immediate emissions reductions."

The declaration was signed at the One Planet Summit in Paris, which was convened by French President Macron on the second anniversary of the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

As Ship & Bunker has reported, the International Maritime Organization's (IMO's) climate talks on an initial Comprehensive IMO Strategy on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Ships will resume in the spring at MEPC 72.