Maritime transport: IMO considers new environmental rules
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is meeting from Thursday June 10 with the aim of adopting measures aimed at drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the very polluting maritime transport industry. On the agenda of these discussions which will last until June 17, rapid actions “aiming at reducing the carbon intensity of ships”, explains the IMO in a press release, “as well as the main stages” to achieve this. . "The stakes are high," said Damien Chevallier, French deputy permanent representative to the IMO, to AFP. "Everything looks good on 99% of the text, but a few figures in a table crystallize all the attention and still block" a possible agreement, he continues.
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The specialized agency of the UN is committed to guaranteeing a 40% reduction in the carbon intensity of the industry it oversees by 2030 compared to 2008. It is up to it to ratify the concrete measures to achieve this. The first measure concerns the establishment of specific energy efficiency criteria based on the type and size of existing ships, comparable to those already in force for new ships. The second sets the rate, in percentages, linearly or in stages, of the reduction in the carbon intensity of ships by December 31, 2030. It is this that is at the center of the debates.
The 76th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), which is being held by videoconference from June 10 to 17, is the last chance to hope for the promulgation of these measures on January 1, 2023. If they were adopted, they would amend the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Several environmental associations, including Seas at Risk, are already worried about cheap compromises. The current state of discussions "shows that the IMO risks not aligning the maritime transport sector with the Paris Agreement on the climate" signed in 2015 and which goes through carbon neutrality by 2050, they have written in a forum at the end of May.
The idea of a fuel tax
Maritime transport currently accounts for 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Higher Institute of Maritime Economics (Isemar), which is more than air transport. The measures to regulate the carbon intensity of ships risk occupying most of the debate and postponing “the other equally important subjects”, notes Damien Chevallier. In particular the adoption of a work schedule for the so-called medium and long-term measures (after 2030), new rules for ballast water (tanks used for navigation), the reduction of plastics or noise under -sailor, denounced by animal rights defenders.
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The creation of a fund dedicated to research and development (R&D), supported by manufacturers, is also on the agenda but with more chances of being discussed. The world's main association of shipping companies, Bimco, questioned by AFP, "looks forward to further deliberations on the R&D fund proposed by the industry". "The lack of clarity, due in part to increasing levels of political risk and the resulting investment risk, leads to limiting R&D investments for 'green' fuels for ships", is alarmed for its part. International Chamber of Maritime Transport (ICS), which prides itself on representing 80% of the world's merchant fleet, in a statement released on Wednesday. Several international maritime transport organizations had put forward the idea at the end of 2019 of creating an innovation fund which would be financed by a tax on fuel in order to carry out projects to reduce the carbon footprint of the sector.
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