The latest round of talks by the International Martime Organisation (IMO), held in London, have seen tightened energy efficiency targets and a commitment to further discuss proposed speed reduction rules as the key outcomes.
However, environmental campaigners were quick to argue the results showed a “total lack of ambition” on the part of the shipping industry, which currently emits three per cent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions but risks seeing its share expand to 10 per cent by 2050 unless efforts to decarbonise accelerate.
With some members and leading shipping operators calling for bolder climate policies and others continuing to push back against proposals that they fear would impose new costs on their national shipping industries, the IMO agreed to tighten energy efficiency targets for new vessels across seven ship types.
The British environmental news website BusinessGreen reports the accelerated targets for containers, general cargo ships, hybrid diesel-electric cruise ships, and LPG and LNG carriers cover about 30 per cent of ships and about 40 per cent of CO2 emitted from ships subject to energy efficiency regulations.
The measures could reduce CO2 emissions by 750 million tonnes of CO2 cumulatively from 2022 to 2050, equivalent to about two per cent of all emissions from the industry over that time period, according to an analysis by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT).
The IMO also committed to considering additional requirements for new ships after 2025 and looking at new efficiency requirements for in-use vehicles at the next meeting, fueling hopes standards could be strengthened as investment in cleaner shipping technologies steps up.
“IMO’s move shows that further efficiency improvements are still possible for fossil fueled ships,” said Bryan Comer, senior researcher in the ICCT’s marine program.
“Future standards should promote new technologies like wind assist and eventually zero emission fuels like hydrogen and electricity.”
BusinessGreen reports a decision on whether to implement speed reduction targets was kicked down the road, and will now be taken up at the IMO’s next GHG working group in November.
The deferral of any decision on speed limits came despite a joint letter signed by over 100 shipping CEOs ahead of the MEPC74 talks calling for global speed limits at sea, which is widely seen as the most effective short-term measure for curbing the industry’s emissions.
“We’ve seen over 100 individual shipping companies united with NGOs in calling for speed reduction, overruling the policy stance of the industry associations,” said Faig Abbasov, shipping policy manager at Transport and Environment.
“The shipping industry associations no longer represent the best interests of shipping companies.”
Countries who blocked further action reportedly included Saudi Ara
bia, the United States, Brazil, and Cook Islands, with opposition to the speed reduction proposals also understood to have come from Chile and Peru.
BusinessGreen reports the outcome from the meeting should provide a boost to investment in fuel efficiency measures across the sector, but it will also provide further ammunition for those shipping operators and environmental campaigners who accuse the international body of failing to deliver sufficiently ambitious climate policies.
Aviation and shipping are the only two industries to operate outside the framework of national climate action plans established by the United Nations sponsored Paris Agreement, with the IMO and its sister body the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) instead tasked with delivering new policies to curb emissions from the carbon intensive sectors.
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