THE international Chamber of Shipping (ICS), representing four fifths of the world's commercial fleet, has urged shipowners to go slow on committing to Paris Agreement's targets to reduce greenhouse gases to zero by 2050.
'Talk is cheap, action is difficult,' said ICS chairman Esben Poulsson.
A confidential document obtained by The Associated Press shows the International Chamber of Shipping advised its national branches that it should 'give careful consideration to the possible implications' before committing to a new plan to reduce maritime emissions.
Under the plan, shipping companies will declare all their vessels with their emissions, inputting them into a new software tool. That includes pollution starting at the oil well all the way to the engines, said Jean-Marc Bonello, a naval architect at UMAS, a consultancy launched by experts from University College London, who helped design the tool.
Shipowners and managers will then have to improve efficiency or use costly environment-friendly fuel to reduce emissions 60 per cent 2036.
Shipping accounts for less than three per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
ICS spokesman Stuart Neil said the association was concerned about shipping companies signing on without proper analysis. 'It has to be properly thought through,' he said.
One objection of the industry lobby group is that the target would force shipowners to count their indirect emissions, including those produced while making marine fuels, and doesn't take into account that more energy gets used navigating in bad weather.
SeaNews Turkey
'Talk is cheap, action is difficult,' said ICS chairman Esben Poulsson.
A confidential document obtained by The Associated Press shows the International Chamber of Shipping advised its national branches that it should 'give careful consideration to the possible implications' before committing to a new plan to reduce maritime emissions.
Under the plan, shipping companies will declare all their vessels with their emissions, inputting them into a new software tool. That includes pollution starting at the oil well all the way to the engines, said Jean-Marc Bonello, a naval architect at UMAS, a consultancy launched by experts from University College London, who helped design the tool.
Shipowners and managers will then have to improve efficiency or use costly environment-friendly fuel to reduce emissions 60 per cent 2036.
Shipping accounts for less than three per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
ICS spokesman Stuart Neil said the association was concerned about shipping companies signing on without proper analysis. 'It has to be properly thought through,' he said.
One objection of the industry lobby group is that the target would force shipowners to count their indirect emissions, including those produced while making marine fuels, and doesn't take into account that more energy gets used navigating in bad weather.
SeaNews Turkey
