Brussels, 02/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Given the prolonged absence of an international agreement on greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport, the EU is counting on this sector to make a contribution to the fight against climate change by 2013, and the European Commission is subsequently urging the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to speed up its work. This appeal was launched on Monday 1 October during an IMO environmental protection committee meeting in London, focusing on the technical and operational details of the agreement concluded last year on energy efficiency standards in certain boats, as applicable from 2015 (see EUROPE 10421).
Siim Kallas, the European Commissioner for transport and Connie Hedegaard, his colleague responsible for climate action, considered that the IMO should not simply rely on these measures.
In a joint declaration, the commissioners declared that “the International Maritime Organisation made a significant and highly welcome step forward in July 2011 with the Energy Efficient Design Index. But this measure alone will not be enough to ensure shipping emissions are reduced fast enough. Discussions about further global measures are ongoing at IMO level, but we need intermediary steps to quickly deliver emissions reductions, such as energy-efficient measures also for existing ships”. They pointed out that the EU is planning a variety of measures, including market mechanisms and that “a simple, robust and globally feasible approach towards setting a system for monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions based on fuel consumption is the necessary starting point”.
The Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) adopted by the IMO should be compulsory by 2015 and exclusively sets out to establish energy efficiency standards for certain categories of new boats. (AN/trans/fl)