Speed controls on shipping could save billions in lower ship fuel bills, cut air pollution and enable the shipping industry to play a full part in tackling climate change according to a new report.
Environmental groups have welcomed the outcome of a key vote today in the European Parliament on the sulphur content of ship fuels.
The Clean Shipping Coalition welcomes the adoption by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) of an Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI)
regulation for new ships, but warns that it's only the first step in what needs to be a far more expansive effort to address shipping’s climate impacts.(1)
Statement on behalf of Seas At Risk (SAR), Transport & Environment (T&E) and Environmental Defence Fund (EDF)
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) failed to reach agreement on global action to address greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping at a meeting in London last week (1). Environmental groups have repeated calls for EU action in the absence of progress on global measures.
The first global agreement to cut carbon emissions from ships has been blocked by several developing countries. The International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) had been set to approve an Energy Efficient Design Index (EEDI) for ships at its meeting last week in London, following four years of work. The standard, which would only apply to newly built ships, would have been the first globally agreed measure to reduce carbon emissions from international maritime transport.
With less than two days to go, the Copenhagen climate negotiations have yet to identify a feasible way forward to reduce emissions from international aviation and shipping.
A deal on including aviation and shipping emissions in the Copenhagen climate agreement is being blocked by China, India, Saudi Arabia and The Bahamas (1). Failure to include the two sectors (known collectively as bunker emissions) puts at risk both a major source of climate funding for developing countries and the long term success of climate reduction targets say environmental organisations.
A meeting in London next week will be the last chance for the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to set out how it plans to meet its responsibilities under the Kyoto Protocol to control and reduce emissions from international shipping, before the crucial UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
Bonn, Germany – In an attempt to break the political deadlock preventing action on international aviation and shipping emissions, Australia has called for reduction targets for these sectors to be agreed at the Copenhagen climate talks in December. In an indictment of the failure of the UN bodies responsible over the twelve years since the Kyoto protocol was adopted, Australia is effectively calling for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to be stripped of their responsibility for developing and implementing reduction targets. Environmental groups have welcomed the move and called on the European Union to support it.
Environmental NGOs have welcomed last Thursday's decision by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to require substantial reductions in the sulphur content of marine fuel from 2020. But the groups condemned the continued failure of the organisation to agree on measures to combat greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping.