More than 150 leading companies and organizations including
oil majors and port authorities on Wednesday called for the global shipping
industry to be fully decarbonized by 2050, urging governments to step up action
warning time was limited.
With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global
shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions and the sector is
under growing pressure to get cleaner.
UN shipping agency the International Maritime Organization
(IMO), has said it aims to reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
ships by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050, but industry groups are calling for
accelerated action from governments.
In the latest initiative companies and groups - from
shipping, chartering, finance, ports, and fuel production - say stronger
measures are needed to ensure the sector will meet the climate goals set by the
Paris accord, which seeks to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees
Celsius.
"The clock is ticking," said Hugo De Stoop, chief
executive of leading tanker company Euronav.
The Call to Action initiative, developed by the World
Economic Forum, the non-profit Global Maritime Forum and other partners, said
decarbonization of shipping could "only happen with the urgency and scale
needed" if governments and regulators established proper policy
frameworks.
"Policymakers have a historic opportunity to accelerate
this process by introducing a global carbon levy on marine fuels, to drive
decarbonization and incentivize investment in zero-emissions fuels and
vessels," said Jeremy Weir, CEO of trading company Trafigura.
An IMO spokesperson said the UN agency had a "clear
plan of work ahead", including discussion of further measures to reduce
GHG emissions from ships, which would provide member states "with the
opportunity to review the current strategy and put forward proposals for new
ambitions".
The initiative's other signatories include container lines
A.P. Moller - Maersk, MSC and Hapag Lloyd , oil majors BP and Royal Dutch
Shell, mining groups BHP and Rio Tinto, agri groups Cargill and Bunge and
others such as the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp as well as the Panama Canal
Authority.