Shipowners to IMO: Give us a roadmap for CO2 cuts

OCTOBER 19, 2016 — The global shipping industry wants to see IMO develop a roadmap for the reduction of CO2 emissions from ships.

BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, Intercargo, Intertanko and the World Shipping Council have made a joint submission for consideration at next week’s meeting of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70).

They say that the submission represents a unified response from the shipping industry to the Paris Agreement on climate change, which entered into force October 5.

The joint industry submission calls on IMO Member States to finalize the adoption of a global CO2 data collection system for international shipping, as a precursor to the consideration of possible next steps to address the sector’s CO2 emissions.

Those steps could then build on the existing IMO mandatory agreement on technical and operational measures to reduce shipping’s CO2, which entered into force worldwide in 2013 – the first global agreement of its kind to be established outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In particular, the industry associations are requesting MEPC 70 to agree to develop a roadmap which would include a timeline for the completion of this work.

The associations are united in emphasizing that it is of the utmost importance that MEPC 70 makes significant progress on agreeing to develop a timeline for consideration of next steps, in order that IMO can make a positive report to the next UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP 22) which meets in Marrakesh from November 7.

The industry’s submission to MEPC 70 is intended to demonstrate that shipping is responding responsibly to global climate change, and that IMO is the only competent authority for addressing shipping’s CO2 emissions.

Download the joint submission HERE