IMO Failed to Impress with Progress Toward GHG Emission Reduction at MEPC 71, Says T&E

T&E said that IMO failed to impress with its outline for GHG emission reductions. File Image / CC0

The European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) Wednesday said that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) failed to impress with its outline for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, which was recently approved at the 71st session of the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC 71).

T&E notes that the details of each section of the outline are to be decided at a meeting in October, with a draft strategy agreed to by 2018 and finalised in 2023.

"Disagreement over how to distribute efforts and the potential costs of measures remain the biggest obstacle to progress," said Bill Hemmings, T&E's shipping director.

"On a positive note there was a strong delegation of Pacific Island nations. These countries, so vulnerable to climate change, are leading calls for an ambitious reduction target and urgent measures. In any case, as long as the IMO does not deliver a robust global deal to reduce shipping GHG, the inclusion of shipping in the EU ETS must remain on the table."

As Ship & Bunker previously reported, ahead of MEPC 71, ministers and representatives from the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Fiji, Vanuatu and Palau called on 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.

Marshall Islands' transport minister Mike Halferty suggests that the IMO's new strategy outline represents only "modest’ progress."

"It is clear that much more rapid progress will need to be made at the second working group in October," said Halferty to Politico.

As Ship & Bunker reported earlier this month, T&E announced that a new study has found that the average design efficiency of new bulk carriers, oil tankers, and gas carriers was worse in 2016 than in 2015.

"Making new ships more efficient saves both fuel and carbon emissions. It is a no brainer. But the current EEDI requirements are so weak that ships built in 2016 are actually becoming less efficient," said Faig Abbasov, T&E’s shipping officer.

"If the IMO is serious about reducing shipping emissions the very first thing it should do is tighten the the EEDI requirements."