The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has approved short-term decarbonisation measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships.
"The draft amendments to the MARPOL convention would require ships to combine a technical and operational approach to reduce their carbon intensity," IMO said in a statement, noting that the approach is in line with the ambition of the Initial IMO GHG Strategy, which aims to reduce the carbon intensity of international shipping by 40% by 2030, compared to 2008.
The measures require ships to reduce their engine power to improve energy efficiency from 2023 and from 2026, ships will have to comply with mandatory carbon intensity targets which can be met through speed reduction or the use of alternative fuels.
The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) approved the draft measures last November 17 but it will still need to be adopted at the next MEPC meeting in 2021.
“Considerable further work on the implementation of the measures is still ahead of us, but I am confident that, the IMO spirit of cooperation, shown during the past years, will enable swift progress with the development of technical guidelines and a Carbon Intensity Code as well as the essential further work on the comprehensive assessment of impacts of the measures on developing countries, SIDs and LDCs” said IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim.
He said the approved amendments were important building blocks without which future discussions on mid and long-term measures will not be possible.
The progress in developing the short-term measures follows the timeline as set out in the initial IMO GHG strategy. The strategy proposed that short-term measures should be those measures finalized and agreed by the Committee between 2018 and 2023.
Criticised, however, have slammed the measure saying it falls short from achieving any real result to reduce carbon emissions.
