MEPC 80: Shipping organisations laud IMO climate ambition

Several shipping organisations, including the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the UK Chamber of Shipping and Danish Shipping have praised the IMO’s revised greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy, calling it a “historical agreement”.

PHOTO: The IMO's 80th Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting at IMO HQ this week. IMO

The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) has adopted a new GHG strategy today, which aims to achieve net zero GHG emissions from international shipping "by or around 2050".

The revised strategy text also includes “indicative checkpoints” for an absolute GHG emissions reduction of 20% (striving for 30%) by 2030, and 70% (striving for 80%) by 2040 - both relative to 2008 levels.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) thinks the revised strategy is a “big step in the right direction.”

“The 2040 target of 70% reduction is also powerful, and when we meet that checkpoint, the shipping industry will have gained momentum on its trajectory away from fossil fuels in a sustainable and scalable way,” MMMCZCS says.

The agreement highlights a requirement to consider the absolute climate footprint of traditional fossil fuels, including production, rather than focusing only on ship emissions, argues Denmark-based shipowners’ association, Danish Shipping.

“This agreement sends a clear signal to investors in the production of new green fuels and new green ships that the green transition will happen and that there is a plan for when," Danish Shipping’s chief executive Anne H. Steffensen says.

“Furthermore, there is a goal that at least 5% of fuels in global shipping should be green by 2030,” she adds.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has also applauded the revised agreement, while highlighting that the “ambitious targets” can only be achieved if the IMO agrees to an international levy on ships’ GHG emissions to support a “fund and reward” mechanism.

“It is very positive that most governments now support a levy for shipping involving flat rate contributions by ships per tonne of GHG emitted to an IMO fund to expedite a rapid transition,” ICS’s deputy secretary general Simon Bennet says.

By Aparupa Mazumder and Shilpa Sharma

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