The time has come for urgent action, for ambition and for the will to gather as many countries as possible to bring about a successful outcome; that was the message delivered by Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc in London on Monday 9 April at the opening of a week of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) negotiations, crucial for the sector’s contribution to global efforts to tackle climate change.
The 72nd meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) from 9 to 13 April is expected to adopt an initial strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping.
Bulc held talks with IMO Secretary General Ki-Tack Lim and MEPC chair Hideaki Saito, and with state parties, industry and non-governmental organisations.
“Today we start an important and challenging week at @IMOHQ. Urgent action from the shipping sector is needed as part of global efforts against #ClimateChange. It is time for #IMO to agree on a meaningful strategy to reduce GHG emissions from ships”, the commissioner tweeted on Monday.
The EU’s negotiating position is clear (see EUROPE 11992). On behalf of the EU, Commissioner Bulc will be aiming for adoption of an initial strategy that contains an ambitious CO2 emissions reduction target, consistent with the Paris Agreement’s global warming objectives (limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and if possible to 1.5 degrees by 2100).
To this end, she will argue for a 70% reduction in emissions with the pursuit of efforts towards 100% by 2050 compared to 2008 levels. That, said Bulc and Climate Action Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete in a joint letter to member state ministers on 19 March which was made public on Monday 9 April, “should be feasible and would correspond to an adequate contribution from the shipping sector”.
The EU believes that the strategy should also include a list of possible short-, medium- and long-term measures equally applicable to all ships to deliver on the emission reduction objectives.
“In view of the IMO’s intention to adopt a revised strategy that would include concrete measures in 2023, agreement on a work plan is also necessary to ensure that the development of measures starts immediately after the adoption of the initial strategy, giving priority to short term measures that could be agreed and adopted already by 2023”, the commissioners state.
Among other items on the agenda, the MEPC will also address issues related to the energy efficiency of ships and the reduction of the sulphur content of marine fuels. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)