THE UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has adopted a compromise to decarbonise global shipping at the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80) climate summit in London, reports Rotterdam's Offshore Energy.
'The adoption of the 2023 imo Greenhouse Gas Strategy is a monumental development for IMO and opens a new chapter towards maritime decarbonisation,' said IMO secretary-general Kitack Lim.
'It is not the end goal, it is a starting point for the work in the decades ahead. We have a direction, a common vision and ambitious targets,' Mr Lim said.
But before this compromise, a critical moment came in determining whether the shipping industry would keep to the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 Celsius.
Delegates looked at carbon intensity of the ship to decline through further improvement of the energy efficiency for new ships and to review with the aim of strengthening the energy efficiency design requirements for ships.
They considered carbon intensity of international shipping to decline and to reduce CO2 emissions per transport work, as an average across international shipping, by at least 40 per cent by 2030, compared to 2008.
They mulled the uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emission technologies, fuels and/or energy sources to represent at least five per cent, striving for 10 per cent of the energy used by international shipping by 2030.
They also looked at emissions from international shipping as soon as possible and to reach net-zero emissions by or around, ie, close to 2050 as called for in the Paris Agreement.
SeaNews Turkey
'The adoption of the 2023 imo Greenhouse Gas Strategy is a monumental development for IMO and opens a new chapter towards maritime decarbonisation,' said IMO secretary-general Kitack Lim.
'It is not the end goal, it is a starting point for the work in the decades ahead. We have a direction, a common vision and ambitious targets,' Mr Lim said.
But before this compromise, a critical moment came in determining whether the shipping industry would keep to the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 Celsius.
Delegates looked at carbon intensity of the ship to decline through further improvement of the energy efficiency for new ships and to review with the aim of strengthening the energy efficiency design requirements for ships.
They considered carbon intensity of international shipping to decline and to reduce CO2 emissions per transport work, as an average across international shipping, by at least 40 per cent by 2030, compared to 2008.
They mulled the uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emission technologies, fuels and/or energy sources to represent at least five per cent, striving for 10 per cent of the energy used by international shipping by 2030.
They also looked at emissions from international shipping as soon as possible and to reach net-zero emissions by or around, ie, close to 2050 as called for in the Paris Agreement.
SeaNews Turkey