The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is representing the world’s national shipowners’ associations and over 80 percent of the world merchant fleet at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) in Madrid this week.
“ICS is acutely aware of the urgent need for all economic activities, including international shipping, to eventually eliminate GHG emissions as soon as practicable, through
a combination of short term measures such as such as speed optimisation and longer term measures such as the use of zero-carbon fuels,” said the ICS Deputy Secretary-General, Simon Bennett.
“Now we need to redouble our efforts to deliver further dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency, as demanded by governments and society at large.”
“The transition to zero CO2 emitting fuels – which ICS has dubbed the ‘Fourth Propulsion Revolution’ – is the challenge of our age, and one that we know the industry will embrace. This will require truly massive investment in research and development, which ICS believes must be at the heart of the IMO GHG Strategy if the ambitious reduction targets that IMO Member States have set are to be met.”
“Indeed, based on the total impact of the commitments so far made by governments as part of the Paris Agreement, successful delivery of the IMO targets will decarbonise shipping at a much faster rate than the rest of the world economy, whose emissions are projected to continue increasing for at least a further 10 years,” he added.
The annual Conference of Parties (COP 25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (and the 2015 UNFCCC Paris Agreement) meets in Madrid from 2-13 December.
In March 2019, in conjunction with other international shipowner associations, ICS made an important submission to IMO in order to highlight the fact that, when account is taken of projections for future trade growth, the industry cannot achieve the 2050 GHG reduction target using fossil fuels alone.
This may require an efficiency improvement of around 90% compared to 2008, which cannot be delivered with current propulsion systems. If the 2050 reduction target is to be met, commercially viable low emission ships need to start appearing on the market by the 2030s.