MEPC 80 adopts IMO revised strategy to cut ship emissions

• Member states of IMO have adopted the organization’s 2023 strategy on cutting shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions at the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80) meeting in London  

• IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim says adoption of the 2023 IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy is a monumental development for IMO and opens a new chapter towards maritime decarbonisation

• He says with the just-agreed revised strategy, IMO has “a clear direction, a common vision, and ambitious targets to guide us to deliver what the world expects from us”

Member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), meeting at the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80), have adopted IMO’s revised strategy to cut shipping’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with enhanced targets to tackle the harmful emissions.

MEPC 80 was held on July 3-7 at the IMO headquarters in London with some 1,800 delegates attending in person and remotely.

The revised IMO GHG Strategy includes an enhanced common ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping close to 2050, a commitment to ensure an uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030, as well as indicative checkpoints for 2030 and 2040.

“The adoption of the 2023 IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy is a monumental development for IMO and opens a new chapter towards maritime decarbonization,” IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said.

“At the same time, it is not the end goal, it is in many ways a starting point for the work that needs to intensify even more over the years and decades ahead of us.”

However, Lim said that with the just-adopted revised strategy, “we have a clear direction, a common vision, and ambitious targets to guide us to deliver what the world expects from us.”

“Above all, it is particularly meaningful to have unanimous support from all member states. In this regard, I believe that we have to pay more attention to support developing countries, in particular SIDS (small island developing states) and LDCs (least developed countries), so that no one is left behind,” he said.

The adoption of the revised strategy came following doubts before the meeting that IMO’s net-zero emission goal by 2050 would be met by the shipping industry due to uncertain supply of green fuel and the financial conditions of the lesser industry players.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for agreement to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at talks in London and urged that decarbonisation efforts move faster, Reuters reported.

IMO is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for developing global standards for shipping and supporting countries to implement those rules.

The 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships (the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy) represents the continuation of work by IMO as the appropriate international body to address GHG emissions from international shipping.

IMO said it remains committed to reducing GHG emissions from international shipping and, as a matter of urgency, aims to phase them out as soon as possible, while promoting, in the context of this strategy, a just and equitable transition.

Levels of ambition directing the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy are as follows:

• Carbon intensity of ships to decline through further improvement of new ships’ energy efficiency – to review with the aim of strengthening the energy efficiency design requirements for ships;
• Carbon intensity of international shipping to decline – to reduce CO2 emissions per transport work, as an average across international shipping by at least 40% by 2030, compared with 2008;
• Uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emission technologies, fuels and/or energy sources to increase – uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emission technologies, fuels and/or energy sources to represent at least 5%, striving for 10%, of the energy used by international shipping by 2030; and
• GHG emissions from international shipping to reach net zero – to peak GHG emissions from international shipping as soon as possible and to reach net-zero GHG emissions by or around, i.e. close to 2050, taking into account different national circumstances, while pursuing efforts towards phasing them out as called for in the Vision consistent with the long-term temperature goal set out in Article 2 of the Paris Agreement.

Indicative checkpoints were set to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping: (1) total annual GHG emissions reduction by at least 20%, striving for 30%, by 2030, compared with 2008; and (2) total annual GHG emissions reduction by at least 70%, striving for 80%, by 2040, compared with 2008.

The 2023 GHG Strategy states that a basket of candidate measure(s), delivering on the reduction targets, should be developed and finalized comprising a technical element, namely a goal-based marine fuel standard regulating the phased reduction of the marine fuel’s GHG intensity; and an economic element, on the basis of a maritime GHG emissions pricing mechanism.

IMO said the candidate economic elements will be assessed observing specific criteria to be considered in the comprehensive impact assessment, with a view to facilitating finalization of the basket of measures.

The mid-term GHG reduction measures should effectively promote the energy transition of shipping and provide the world fleet a needed incentive while contributing to a level playing field and a just and equitable transition, IMO said.

The strategy says that the impacts on states of a measure or combination of measures should be assessed and taken into account as appropriate before adoption of the measure in accordance with the revised procedure for assessing impacts on states of candidate measures. IMO said particular attention should be paid to the needs of developing countries, especially SIDS and LDCs.

The committee recognized that developing countries, in particular LDCs and SIDS, have special needs with regard to capacity-building and technical cooperation. An appendix provides an overview of relevant IMO initiatives supporting the reduction of GHG emissions from ships.

The 2023 strategy sets out a timeline towards adopting the basket of measures and the updated 2028 IMO GHG Strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships:

• MEPC 81 (Spring 2024) – Interim report on comprehensive impact assessment of the basket of candidate mid-term measures/finalization of basket of measures
• MEPC 82 (Autumn 2024) – Finalized report on comprehensive impact assessment of the basket of candidate mid-term measures
• MEPC 83 (Summer 2025) – Review of short-term measure to be completed by January 1, 2026
• MEPC 84 (Spring 2026) – Approval of measures/review of short-term measure (EEXI and CII) to be completed by January 1, 2026
• Extraordinary one- or two-day MEPC (six months after MEPC 83 in Autumn 2025) – Adoption of measuresRELATED READ: IMO strategy offers opportunities for green future