Shipping to adopt first mandatory emissions reduction measures
Green shipping news - by GreenWise staff
18th July 2011
An agreement reached late last week means the global shipping industry will for thefirst time adopt legally binding regulations to tackle its growing carbon footprint, through an energy efficiency ratings system.
The
International Maritime Organisation (IMO) announced on Friday that it had reached agreement on the first ever
mandatory global greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction regime for the
shipping industry. The IMO is the United Nations agency responsible for safety and security and the prevention of maritime pollution by ships.
The measures it agreed last week will see
energy efficiency ratings introduced for new builds in shipping, which it is estimated will lower emissions by between 25 and 30 per cent by 2030.
The historic agreement marks the first ever legally-binding regulation of GHG emissions by an international industry and is an important first step in cutting shipping’s carbon footprint, which currently accounts for three per cent of global emissions and is growing at between three and four per cent a year.
New measures
The new regulations, which are expected to come into force from January 2013, will make it mandatory for all new ships of 400 gross tonnage and above to adopt the
Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and for all ships to adopt the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP).
Under the EEDI ships built between 2015 and 2019 will have to rate 10 per cent higher in terms of their energy efficiency performance. For ships built between 2020 and 2024 the rating will increase to 20 per cent. For those built after 2024, an energy efficiency improvement of 30 per cent will be required.
Room for improvement
Carbon War Room, an NGO campaigning to reduce carbon emissions in the shipping industry, welcomed IMO’s agreement last week, but said it needed to go further and apply mandatory rules for all ships, not just new ones.
"The IMO decision on new-builds should result in fuel savings of $5 billion (£3 billion) annually by 2020 (and CO2 reductions of over 20 million tons)," said Peter Boyd, coo of Carbon War Room. "The real prize for the planet and profitability is in the existing fleet. Today’s new standards if applied to all ships, not just newbuilds, would save the industry more than 220 million tons of CO2 and $50 billion (£30 billion) a year. Chasing all profitable efficiency savings could save even more. This is a historic move by the IMO but there’s a bigger environmental and economic opportunity out there that’s too good to miss."
Carbon War Room said it had a letter signed by 50 organisations, including owner-operators of 60 million tons-worth of vessels, calling for the mandatory use of energy efficiency ratings across the entire fleet, which it would be delivering to IMO leaders.
It is not clear yet if the new rules will be enough to stave off action by the European Union (EU) to incorporate shipping into its Emissions Trading System (ETS) from 2013. The EU has moved to include aviation into the ETS and has threatened to do the same with shipping if it fails to come up with suitable agreement by 2013.
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