Submissions fly in for next month’s MEPC

Submissions are flying in to the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ahead of the eighty-first session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) next month where the focus will be on developing legally-binding measures to ensure last year’s milestone agreement to phase out greenhouse gases from shipping by 2050 is made possible. 

The task at hand is to translate the net-zero by 2050 “ambition” of last year’s diplomatic agreement into concrete action with plenty of competing visions on how this can be achieved. 

Last week, Splash reported on the International Chamber of Shipping’s proposed zero-emission shipping fund (ZESF), co-sponsored by the Bahamas and Liberia, whereby contributions from ships per tonne of CO2e emitted would be used to reduce the significant cost gap between zero GHG fuels and conventional fuel oil, providing financial rewards to ships for the GHG emissions prevented by new marine fuel use.

Now eight Pacific and Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS) have updated a proposal they’ve been touting for years, namely a universal mandatory levy on GHG emissions, with an entry price now of $150 per ton/CO2-equivalent, in combination with a global fuel standard. They also have set out a common position on revenue disbursement, arguing for the majority of funds to come to the priority needs of climate most vulnerable states.

Alan Lillia, Solomons head of delegation, noted, “We’re disappointed with the elapsed time since our original submission at MEPC76. Originally proposing a $100/ton entry price for operationalisation by 2025, we now need to adjust upwards to $150/ton with the starting time pushed to 2027.”