Pacific Ministers Call on IMO Member States for "Radical" CO2 Cuts

Ministers of Pacific nations called on IMO member states this week for "radical" CO2 cuts.
File Image / CC0

The Global Strategic Communications Council says ministers and representatives from the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu and Palau called on International Maritime Organization (IMO) member states at the 71st session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 71) 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.

"Earlier this year, the World Meteorological Organisation released its report on the state of the world's climate in 2016. It is alarming for us as it states that we have already reached global temperatures of 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Even more distressing for us, is the image of Tarawa, our capital, with the accompanying text noting that Kiribati is likely to be uninhabitable as a nation state in 30 – 60 years," said Natan Teewe, Minister of Justice for Kiribati.

"You can understand therefore why it is so important to us that we all do as much as we can to curb Greenhouse Gas emissions urgently. It is for that reason that Kiribati is here - to make a plea to our fellow IMO Member States this week to take urgent action to reduce the emissions from international shipping and to work towards full decarbonisation of the sector."

According to a submission to IMO this week supported by France, Germany, Belgium, and Pacific nations, such a goal would mean the shipping industry must meet a zero net emissions target by 2035.

"If international shipping was a country, it would be the seventh largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. And unless the sector takes additional action to those already planned, emissions from the sector will grow anywhere from 50 percent to 250 percent by 2050. That would be as much as all the greenhouse gas emissions from the European Union," said Mike Halferty, Marshall Islands' Minister for Transport and Communication .

Talks on the matter are set to run through this week at MEPC 71, with two more sets of negotiations planned ahead of a 2018 climate deal for the sector.

As Ship & Bunker previously reported, a coalition of Pacific Island and European countries met in Tonga from April 24-28, formally agreeing to work together to ensure the IMO delivers an ambitious climate deal for shipping.