At the 70th meeting of its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in London from Monday 24 to Friday 28 October, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), whose role it is to regulate international maritime transport, pledged to reduce the sulphur content in the fuel oil used by ships from 1 January 2020. Some NGOs criticise the organisation for its lack of ambition and lack of desire to cut greenhouse gas emissions in what they see as a “smoke and mirrors” agreement.
The IMO pledged to set the world cap on sulphur content in fuel oil at 0.50% weight for weight, “a substantial reduction” it says from the current global cap of 3.50% weight for weight. 'Fuel oil' is the fuel consumed by the main and auxiliary engines and the boilers.
The IMO also pledged to put a compulsory system in place by 2019 for the collection of data on fuel consumption for vessels of 5,000 gross tonnage or more. Under this new system, aggregated data will be submitted to flag states at the end of each calendar year. It will then be for the flag state to determine whether or not a statement of compliance should be issued for ships. Flag states will be required subsequently to transfer these data to the IMO ship fuel oil consumption database.
The organisation also adopted a road map covering the period from 2017 to 2013, entitled “Comprehensive IMO strategy on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships”. An initial strategy is expected to be presented in 2018, with the final strategy and the implementation plan to be adopted in 2023. Alongside the strategy, a working group on reducing greenhouse gases will also be set up. Its first meeting is scheduled for 2017, after the 71st MEPC meeting.
Agreement criticised by environmentalists and some MEPs. The agreement was welcomed by the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) and by the European Commission. A number of MEPs (Jytte Guteland, José Inácio Faria and Bas Eickhout) and the environmentalist organisation Transport & Environment (T&E), on the other hand, were unhappy at the lack of ambition of the IMO commitments and the announcement that the finalised strategy will be adopted in seven years’ time even though the IMO launched its work plan in 2003. Some also highlight that information will remain secret and will use “proxy data” not real measurements. Concerns also exist that the IMO wants to “dismantle” the European data collection system, which is seen as being more “far more transparent and accurate”.
“Despite shipping having escaped an explicit reference in the Paris Agreement, all countries are now legally bound to pursue efforts to limit a temperature increase well below 2°C and that means countries regulating shipping emissions”, says T&E in a press release. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)