IMO-Singapore webinar charts ways forward for decarbonisation of shipping

At the "Future of Shipping: Decarbonisation" webinar jointly organised by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Singapore today, leaders from maritime administrations and industry came together to share insights on decarbonisation for shipping in the new normal post-COVID-19. Over 500 participants from 63 countries tuned in to the webinar.

Speaking at the opening of the webinar, Singapore Minister for Transport, Mr Ong Ye Kung, said, “While the world deals with the COVID-19 crisis, it must keep up with the fight against climate change. No one can do this alone. It is a global ambition, to be accomplished by the international maritime community. But we all have capabilities, expertise, and resources to contribute to this endeavour. Singapore will do our part, and we look forward to the maritime community coming together, under the leadership of the IMO, to redouble our efforts and build a better, greener world.” Please refer to the Annex for his full speech.

IMO Secretary-General Mr Kitack Lim called for more action to speed up research into zero carbon marine fuels. The Secretary-General said, “To achieve this, IMO is stepping up its efforts to act as a global forum and promoter in R&D in zero carbon marine fuels, bringing together interested stakeholders from public and private sectors, and also private and development banks and other potential donors around the world.”

The strong turnout at the webinar demonstrated that decarbonisation remains a key priority for the international shipping community despite the COVID-19 pandemic. An important underlying theme in the webinar was the importance of collaboration and coordination amongst all stakeholders across the energy and maritime transport value chains, to achieve IMO’s ambition of reducing total annual Greenhouse Gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008.

To co-ordinate and spur global efforts, the IMO and Singapore introduced “NextGEN”, a concept for a collaborative global ecosystem of maritime decarbonisation initiatives. “NextGEN” will facilitate information sharing on decarbonisation initiatives across stakeholders such as IMO Member States, industry and academia, identify opportunities and gaps for decarbonisation in the global shipping ecosystem, and create important networks and platforms for collaboration.

Mr Andreas Sohmen-Pao, Chairman, BW Group and Co-Chair of Singapore’s International Advisory Panel on Maritime Decarbonisation (IAP), Mr Wong Weng Sun, President and CEO of Sembcorp Marine Ltd and Co-Chair of the IAP, and Ms Quah Ley Hoon, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) spoke on the approach needed to successfully transition global shipping to future green energy sources and meet IMO’s 2050 target.

The "Future of Shipping: Decarbonisation" webinar is the third webinar under the Maritime Perspectives series organised by MPA. IMO and Singapore will co-organise another webinar – "Future of Shipping: Digitalisation", on 8 October 2020, where experts will discuss the potential that digitalisation has for shipping. Both webinars lead up to the main IMO-Singapore Future of Shipping conference to be held during Singapore Maritime Week 2021.