IMO Brings Forward Publication of Fourth GHG Study

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday June 11, 2020

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has brought forward its plan to publish its next study on the greenhouse gas emissions of the shipping industry to the next meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), but does not yet have a fixed plan for when this meeting will be held.

The IMO's fourth GHG study is 'near completion', a spokeswoman for the UN body said in an emailed statement Friday.

The report will be a key piece of evidence in determining how shipping should proceed with its decarbonisation agenda over the next decade as it takes on the IMO strategy of reducing carbon emissions per ship by at least 40% from 2008's levels by 2030.

The report was originally scheduled to be presented to the 76th meeting of the MEPC in the autumn of this year, but this plan has been put off course by the COVID-19 pandemic causing several meetings at the IMO's headquarters in London to be postponed.

The 75th meeting of the MEPC, originally scheduled for the week starting March 30, was postponed indefinitely earlier this year.

There are ongoing discussions about when to reschedule it, and whenever it happens it will include the publication of the GHG study, the IMO said Thursday.

The UN body is also holding an "informal virtual meeting to exchange views on GHG reduction from shipping" in the week starting July 6, it said, with a view preparing for the next working group on the subject, rather than taking any decisions.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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