European ship owners have welcomed the progress regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions from shipping following actions at the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 69th session held last week in London.
The 69th MEPC decided that a global CO2 data collection system is to be developed and it will become mandatory under this system for CO2 emissions to be reported for all ships over 5,000 GT.
The next MEPC (MEPC 70) will seek to formalise the amendment to the MARPOL Convention to incorporate the data collection system and will continue work on the CO2 reduction commitments of shipping.
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) also proposed to develop an Intended IMO Determined Contribution for CO2 reduction on behalf of the sector to mirror the commitments of the Indented National Determined Contributions (INDCs) which is currently applicable to national economies but not to international transport.
This has been suggested as a move to show the rest of the world that the maritime industry is fully committed to reducing its emissions. Patrick Verhoeven, Secretary General, European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA), praised the work of the IMO Member States in being able to agree on these steps following the Paris Agreement and stated that “A work plan must now be elaborated, which includes the methodology used to define the contribution, the reference years, the long-term objective and the intermediary steps, all according to a clear timetable.”
Ship Efficiency Review News
To contact the reporter responsible for this article, please email editor@fathom-mi.com
