The shipping industry will come together at a series of events during the UNFCCC Climate Conference COP28. The major summit – Shaping the Future of Shipping – will be hosted under the patronage of His Excellency Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Minister for Energy and Infrastructure (MOEI) at the Museum of the Future in Dubai, according to ICS's release.
The high-profile summit, taking place on 10 December 2023, will follow a Ministerial Roundtable on the 9 December 2023 at COP28 hosted by the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. The Shaping the Future of Shipping Summit will culminate with a gala dinner held in honour of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General, Kitack Lim, prior to his stepping down from the IMO at the end of the year.
The Shaping the Future of Shipping summit, which is being organised by the International Chamber of Shipping and a range of industry bodies, will once again bring together governments and leaders in energy, maritime and all parts of the value chain. The aim of the event is to work on the practical solutions and take forward plans to address climate change, help sustainably transition the industry and prepare the workforce.
This will build on the momentum of the historic agreement made at the IMO during MEPC80 in July 2023. The summit is an opportunity for industry leaders and policymakers to identify the practical actions needed to deliver on the direction set out by governments at the IMO and during the COP negotiations.
In December 2022, ICS signed a memorandum of understanding with the Emirates Shipping Association for collaboration towards the UNFCCC Climate Conference COP28 and beyond. The Shaping the Future of Shipping summit is an outcome of this cooperation and demonstrates the strength of the relationship with the UAE and its shipping industry.
The UAE has played a leading role in the formation of the Clean Energy Marine Hubs (CEM Hubs) initiative that intends to support the establishment of Energy Hubs with access to ports by de-risking the investments needed to produce low- and zero-emission fuels to be transported and used by the maritime sector. The CEM Hubs initiative, which is co-led by five governments and a taskforce of CEOs, aims is to become the high-level platform that can catalyse and support the alignment of effort across the energy-maritime value chain. The initiative is co-ordinated with the support of the ICS and the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH), and the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and was formally adopted by the Clean Energy Ministerial with Energy and Transport Ministers this July.
The Shaping the Future of Shipping Summit builds on the previous summits convened by ICS at COP26 in Glasgow, London in June 2022 and Manila in June 2023.