With two months to go until the 79th gathering Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is facing pressure to up its game when it comes to green targets.
Member states at IMO’s sister body at the United Nations, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), voted last week to adopt a collective long-term global aspirational goal (LTAG) of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, something that is far head of IMO’s current demands which call for emission cuts of 50% compared to a 2008 baseline.
“States’ adoption of this new long term goal for decarbonised air transport, following the similar commitments from industry groups, will contribute importantly to the green innovation and implementation momentum which must be accelerated over the coming decades to ultimately achieve emissions free powered flight,” said the president of the ICAO Council, Salvatore Sciacchitano.
States at the ICAO Assembly also collectively underscored the importance of viable financing and investment support to the new CO2 emissions goal’s attainment, and fully supported the new ICAO Assistance, Capacity-building and Training for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (ACT-SAF) programme to accelerate the availability and use of new fuels.
Fears that shipping might lose out to other industries such as aviation in the scramble for alternative fuels were discussed at last week’s Maritime CEO Forum in Singapore.
Caroline Yang, CEO on bunker craft operator Hong Lam Marine and president of the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), told delegates it was vital shipping coalesced and aggregated significant demand for new fuels.
Bunkers have always been the residual fuel no one else was willing to use, so supplies and prices have generally been stable, she pointed out. Prices and availability of alternative fuels remain questionable as other better resourced industries will be chasing the same resources, Yang warned.
So – who will back the Pacific call for a resolution at MEPC79 committing IMO to 100% absolute reductions by no later than 2050, with at least 80% by 2040. C’mon, we all know its the bare minimum to stop the planet our children inherit from cooking. MEPC 79/7/11, its time to act.