The UNFCCC has this week stressed the need for the shipping and aviation industry’s to urgently cap their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) if they stand any change of meeting the targets set by the Paris Agreement.
It was at the Bonn Climate Change Conference, held 16-25 May 2016, Germany, at which attendees heard how emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from both shipping and aviation are growing at a combined rate of 3-5% annually. It was voiced that in order to combat these emissions and impacts toward climate change, the United Nations bodies that oversee these sectors and agree and adopt strategies, must move forward and take further critical action to limit the effects of industry activities.
Both the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) have the challenge of reducing global emissions from their respective sectors as they are both not directly included in the Paris Agreement, which agreed in December 2015 to limit the average global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius and preferably limit it to a safer 1.5 rise above pre-industrial levels.
John Maggs, a Senior Policy Advisor for Seas at Risk has warned that the emissions of CO2 from shipping are expected to increase 50-250% from now until 2050. Maggs believes that what’s needed is a steep, steady drop in emissions from 2020, arguing that the shipping sector needs to tighten up.
Although shipping was not mentioned directly within the Paris Agreement, it did not go completely unnoticed and the position of the shipping industry has since changed quite dramatically. More discussions now revolve around decarbonisation of the industry and support of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) for international shipping.
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