TIM eMagazine Vol.1 Issue 4
Shipping Sector In A
State Of Confusion Over
Emission Regulations
O
ver the course of the year the extent of
the shipping industry’s confusion – some
would say delusion – on how to clean
up its emissions became clear. Sitting in
meeting rooms in London and Paris, we
heard officials from the International
Maritime Organisation (IMO) and industry profess
their opposition to regional measures to reduce CO2
and then fail to address the problem at the global
forum, the Paris climate conference.
During my second year of attending the IMO’s
marine environment protection committee (MEPC),
which deals with air pollution and CO2 emissions from
shipping, anxiety about these measures intensified
and industry became more vocal especially after the
adoption of the first EU regulation addressing shipping
CO2 emissions.
Monitoring and reporting of the emissions (MRV)
at EU level is, however, just a first step – falling well
short of actually requiring ships to do something about
reducing their emissions from one of the few sectors
exempt from the EU climate target. This regulation,
which came into force across the EU in July 2015, was
nevertheless more than enough to cause an outburst
of protest from the IMO secretary general and at the
opening of the May 2015 IMO MEPC. In the presence
of the delegation of the European Parliament, attending
an IMO meeting for the first time, it was emphatically
stated that the preference of the industry and the IMO
was for international measures.
In the run-up to Paris COP21 though, both the IMO
and industry rebuked any serious proposals to address
shipping emissions in the new international climate
agreement. The IMO secretary general admitted
that ‘world leaders might be tempted to consider
specific measures aimed at reducing shipping’s overall
contribution’ but discouraged them from doing so
saying that ‘such measures […] must be avoided’.
This statement, being in clear contrast with IMO
and industry appeals for international regulation,
epitomises the resistance not only to regional reduction
measures but apparently to the very idea of measures.
The requirenent to act on shipping emissions lived
through several rounds of intensive negotiations over
the COP 21 text. It was dropped from the draft text two
months before COP21, reinserted a few weeks later and
finally killed altogether just three days before the final
Agreement.
The new climate agreement fails to explicitly mention
shipping but there is reference to ambitious long-term
targets, which require urgent emissions reductions
from all sectors of the global economy. Its commitment
to keep warming well below 2°C while aiming for
1.5°C adds an additional urgency to the sector’s task.
It’s almost impossible to achieve these global targets
without shipping. Either the IMO will have to live
up to these requirements or indeed the EU and other
countries will have to take measures.
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