European shipowners welcome the significant progress made this week at the 69th session of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC).
The basic features of a global CO2 data collection system have been agreed upon and further work on CO2 reduction commitments from shipping has been outlined.
“It is very positive that IMO Member States have been able to agree on these steps in the wake of the Paris agreement on climate change”, said European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven, “It confirms the unique leadership of IMO to tackle the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from our industry. We are especially pleased that under the global data collection system reporting of CO2 emissions will be mandatory.”
The next MEPC meeting in October will formalise the amendment to the MARPOL Convention that will incorporate the data collection system and make it applicable to all ships over 5,000 GT. The next meeting will also continue work on the CO2 reduction commitments of shipping.
ECSA particularly supports the proposal of its international partner ICS (International Chamber of Shipping) to develop an ‘Intended IMO Determined Contribution’ for CO2 reduction on behalf of the sector.
This would mirror the commitments or Intended National Determined Contributions (INDCs) which governments have made for their national economies, but from which international transport is currently excluded.
“An Intended IMO Determined Contribution would make IMO Member States and the shipping industry answerable to the international community, in the same way that governments are committed to INDCs”, said Patrick Verhoeven, “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.”