IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee adopts historic 2023 GHG Strategy
Published on 7 July 2023
The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 80) have agreed to a revised GHG Strategy on the reduction of GHG emissions from ships with a commitment to reach net zero GHG emissions by or around 2050.
Margaret Fitzgerald, representing IMCA, attended the week-long Committee meeting as well as the 15th session of the Intersessional Working Group on GHG the previous week and was joined on Thursday by Iain Grainger, IMCA’s CEO, who witnessed the historic agreement being reached.
IMO’s work on GHG emissions reduction and future fuels is being closely monitored by IMCA’s Marine Policy & Regulatory Affairs (MPRA) Committee and further information on the next steps in the process for the offshore marine contracting industry will be shared by the MPRA Committee in due course.
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Margaret Fitzgerald
Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs
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Margaret Fitzgerald, Head of Legal & Regulatory Affairs said: “The adoption of the revised Green House Gas Strategy by MEPC 80 marks a significant strengthening of ambition which sets the shipping Industry on a trajectory to reaching net zero by 2050 or as close to that date as possible in line with the long-term temperature goal set out in Article 2 of the Paris Agreement.
“The inclusion of indicative GHG emission reduction checkpoints for 2030 and 2040 will provide a benchmark against which the marine contracting industry can assess its progress in the coming years and the inclusion of a target of 5%, striving for 10%, use of zero or near zero GHG emission technologies, fuels and/or energy sources by 2030 provides a clear instruction as to what action the industry needs to take next.
“This also lays down the gauntlet to fuel manufacturers to get on with the task of producing sufficient zero and near-zero GHG fuels within the next 6 and a half years to meet industry demands. The MPRA Committee and the new GHG focal group which has been formed under it will, in the next few months, be assessing what the revised strategy means for IMCA members and what their next steps should be.”
