Shipping groups praised a greenhouse gas (GHG) strategy adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at the Marine Environment Protection Committee on Friday.
But, according to a Reuters report, “Delegates said opposition from some countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Panama, had limited what could be achieved.”
BIMCO says the strategy outlines a target to reduce GHG emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2008 while pursuing efforts toward phasing them out.
Lars Robert Pedersen, the deputy secretary general of BIMCO and delegate at the IMO meeting, called the target ambitious, but not impossible. “In BIMCO we believe that the industry can deliver on this target – even if we don’t exactly know how yet.”
BIMCO says it is the largest shipping association in the world, with around 2,000 members across the industry, representing 56 percent of the world’s tonnage.
Peter Hinchliffe, the secretary general of the nternational Chamber of Shipping, welcomed the high-level strategy for the further reduction of shipping’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, calling it a “groundbreaking agreement – a Paris Agreement for shipping – that sets a very high level of ambition for the future reduction of CO2 emissions. We are confident this will give the shipping industry the clear signal it needs to get on with the job of developing zero CO2 fuels, so that the entire sector will be in a position to decarbonize completely, consistent with the 1.5 degree climate change goal.”
He added, “The agreed IMO objective of cutting the sector’s total GHG emissions by at least 50 percent before 2050, as part of a continuing pathway for further reduction, is very ambitious indeed, especially when account is taken of current projections for trade growth as the world’s population and levels of prosperity continue to increase.”
In a joint statement earlier this week, prior to today’s action, Violeta Bulc, the European Union’s commissioner for transport, and Miguel Arias Canete, commissioner for climate action and energy, and other members of the European Commission said international shipping was “the only sector not subject to a global emission reduction objective.”
They had called for a more ambitious goal saying, “An emission reduction of 70 percent, pursuing efforts toward 100 percent by 2050 compared to 2008 levels should be feasible and would correspond to an adequate contribution from the shipping sector,” the group added.
A group called the Clean Shipping Coalition said the action was a “welcome and potentially game-changing development," but added, “The lack of any clear plan of action to deliver the emissions reductions, including urgently needed short-term measures, is a major concern.”