​Four major international trade associations – BIMCO, INTERCARGO, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and INTERTANKO – have made a joint proposal to the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) concerning ambitious CO₂ reductions by the international shipping sector.

In a detailed submission, the industry bodies have proposed that IMO Member States should immediately adopt two Aspirational Objectives on behalf of the international shipping sector:   

• To maintain international shipping's annual total CO₂ emissions below 2008 levels; and
• To reduce CO₂ emissions per tonne of cargo transported one kilometre, as an average across international shipping, by at least 50% by 2050, compared to 2008. 

The shipping industry wants IMO to remain in control of additional measures to address CO₂reduction by international shipping and to develop a global solution, rather than risk the danger of market-distorting measures at the national or regional level.   

Importantly, acknowledging concerns of developing nations about the possible impacts of CO₂reduction for trade and sustainable development, the industry submission emphasises that any objectives adopted by IMO must not imply any commitment to place a binding cap on the sector's total CO₂ emissions or on the CO₂ emissions of individual ships. 

The industry associations also highlight that dramatic in-sector CO₂ reductions alongside increasing trade would require substantial and sustained research into the development of alternative fossil-free fuels and new technologies – something which they say needs to be identified by the IMO strategy. 

Source: ICS Press Release.

http://www.ics-shipping.org/news/press-releases/view-article/2017/06/22/shipping-industry-unites-to-propose-ambitious-co2-reduction-objectives-to-global-regulator