Poulsson: IMO must set baseline emissions standards for shipping

Without clear carbon controls from the International Maritime Organization, the shipping industry may have to adhere to multiple sets of regional regulations, according to Esben Poulsson, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping.    The International Maritime Organization (IMO) must set baseline carbon emissions standards for the international shipping industry, according to International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) Chairman Esben Poulsson.
   Poulsson told attendees at The Economist’s World Ocean Summit that unless the IMO makes “significant progress” in this regard, the industry may have to adhere to multiple sets of regional regulations around the world. The European Union, for example, is considering incorporating shipping into the existing EU Emissions Trading System, and Canada and California have already introduced carbon pricing measures in an effort to curb local emissions.
   ICS argues the IMO should adopt environmental objectives “for the entire shipping sector, not for individual ships, in the same way that governments have already agreed CO2 commitments for their national economies under the Paris Agreement” and “agree on a mechanism for delivery…by 2023.” The international trade association also recommends that if the IMO decides to go with a market-based measure, it should be in the form of a bunker fuel levy.
   “We are confident IMO can adopt an ambitious strategy by 2018, matching the spirit of the Paris Agreement,” Poulsson said. “However, IMO needs to agree a baseline year for peak CO2 emissions from shipping, as well as setting out some serious long term aspirations for dramatically cutting the sector’s total CO2 by the middle of the century.”
   However, Poulsson cautioned against setting unachievable goals, such as many of the more “ambitious” carbon dioxide reduction measures relying on alternative marine fuels that don’t exist yet.
   Alternative fuels like hydrogen or fuel cells are not expected to be widely available for at least another 20 or 30 years, according to ICS, which noted the shipping industry’s total CO2 emissions have already been reduced by more than 10 percent between 2007 and 2012.
   “But projections for trade growth – over which the industry has no control, due to population growth and improved global living standards – suggest that dramatic reductions in the sector’s total CO2 will be difficult to achieve in the immediate future until alternative marine fuels become widely available,” the council said. “In the meantime, ICS argues that any CO2 reduction goals agreed by IMO must also address the legitimate and valid concerns of developing nations about the potential impacts on trade and sustainable development.”