ICS, Environmental NGOs Welcome IMO Progress Toward GHG Reductions

ICS welcomed progress made toward reduction of GHG emissions at MEPC 71 last week. File Image / CC0

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and a number of environmental NGOs have separately welcomed progress made toward reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the International Maritime Organization's (IMO's) 71st session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 71) last week.

The meeting saw MEPC agree to develop a CO2 reduction strategy in line with the Paris COP21 Agreement on climate change, and resulted in a 7-step outline that is now set to be developed into an interim plan due in 2018, which will lay out a clear vision, a suite of short and medium term measures, and quantified CO2 targets for the sectors.

As Ship & Bunker has reported, ICS, BIMCO, INTERCARGO, and INTERTANKO had submitted a joint proposal on the topic to IMO ahead of MEPC 71 calling for "ambitious" CO2 reductions by the international shipping industry.

"Though no detailed decisions have yet been taken by IMO, the industry's specific proposals have been well received by a number of governments among both developed and developing nations, and there is generally willingness on all sides to give these further consideration at the next IMO working group on the strategy in October," said Simon Bennett, ICS Director of Policy.

"Encouragingly, there seems to be a general understanding among nearly all IMO Member States that IMO needs to adopt a truly ambitious strategy if it is to remain in control of regulating CO2 from ships, so that the application of unilateral measures such as the proposed incorporation of international shipping into the EU Emissions Trading System and the resultant market distortion will be unnecessary."

Separately, a number of Environmental NGOs also welcomed IMO's recent progress, but stressed the need for rapid action.

"Some important progress has been made but if the process is to produce a fit for purpose initial strategy by 2018 then it needs to shift up a gear and start focussing on the core issue of how to cut ship emissions deeply in the short term," said John Maggs, Senior Policy Advisor for Seas At Risk.

Bill Hemmings, Director of Shipping and Aviation at Transport & Environment (T&E), commenting on MEPC 71, said: "political differences over differentiation and potential costs of measures prevented substantive progress despite the very welcome presence of a strong delegation of Pacific Island nations so vulnerable to climate change calling for an ambitious reduction target and urgent measures.

"A sense of urgency was lacking and hopes have again been deferred to the next meeting being held in October nearly two years after the Paris agreement."

As Ship & Bunker reported last week, ministers and representatives from the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu and Palau have also been calling on IMO member states for "radical" cuts to CO2 emissions in order to align the sector's emissions with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5C above pre industrial levels.