leaders from across all sectors of the maritime industry
have come together calling on governments and international regulators to take
decisive action in support of shipping decarbonization. Saying that they
recognize the urgency of their efforts and believe that decarbonization is
achievable, the shipping industry is collectively asked governments to work
together with the industry to deliver the policies and investments needed to
reach critical tipping points in decarbonizing global supply chains and the
global economy.
More than 200 industry leaders and organizations signed the
Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization developed by the Getting to Zero
Coalition, a partnership between the Global Maritime Forum, the World Economic
Forum, and Friends of Ocean Action. Shipping companies and operators joined
with service and consultancies and the ports as well from the sectors of
finance, energy, manufacturing shipping customers, shipbuilding, and
infrastructure, united in their call for action.
“With the Call to Action, leaders from across the maritime
value chain send a strong signal to governments meeting in Glasgow next week
that it’s time to raise ambitions and commit to fully decarbonize international
shipping by 2050. If governments want to be climate heroes at COP26, they must
also be climate heroes at the International Maritime Organization, where urgent
action is needed to put international shipping on a just and equitable
Paris-aligned pathway,” says Johannah Christensen, Chief Executive Officer,
Global Maritime Forum.
Fears have been raised that the IMO is losing its leadership
role in shaping the policy for the decarbonization of shipping. Multiple
regulators and authorities around the globe are stepping in creating a
patchwork of initiatives to oversee the shipping industry. In the report with
the Call to Action, they also detail the range of efforts underway by the
individual companies to address the challenges. The report says the measuring
and reporting emissions data has been the first step toward decarbonization and
more than half of signatories report that they have started or are
participating in research, development, and demonstration efforts.
The industry recognizes that zero emission and zero emission
capable vessels need to be ordered with more than a quarter of the participants
reporting that they have already taken actions ordering new vessels. They
however also identify the need for the shippers to use zero emission services
all along the supply chain as well as the need to invest in creating zero
emission fuels and building the bunkering infrastructure to support the
industry’s transition.
“The Call to Action demonstrates that there is broad
industry support for the decarbonization of shipping and shows the many actions
and commitments that are already being made by companies,” said the report. It
also specifies what is needed from governments to fully decarbonize the sector
by 2050.
Specifically, signatories call on governments to commit to
decarbonizing international shipping by 2050. To achieve this, they say that
governments work together with the IMO to deliver policy measures that will
make zero emission shipping the default choice by 2030. Support they say is
required for industrial-scale zero emission shipping projects through national
action.
The initiative being led by the Global Maritime Forum
delivered the Call to Action to the UK Presidency of COP26 before the opening
of the COP26 conference on October 31. Directly after the meeting which runs
till November 12, the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) is
due to meet to consider a broad range of initiatives aimed at the industry’s
efforts to decarbonize. The IMO has been under pressure to act from a broad
range of governments and organizations, with many saying that the IMO’s 50
percent targets by 2050 are too long and not strong enough. The EU for example is pushing forward with
its Fuel EU Maritime proposals designs to accelerate the adopting of alternative
fuels, while the United States and others have said industry broadly must be
carbon neutral by 2050.
Signatories to the Call to Action for Shipping
Decarbonization include major shipping lines A.P. Moller- Maersk, BW LPG,
Cargill Ocean Transportation, Carnival Corporation, Hapag-Lloyd, Mitsui O.S.K.
Lines, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, and others. Broad segments of the
maritime industry participating in the initiative also include BP, Citi, Daewoo
Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Lloyd’s Register, Panama Canal Authority,
Port of Rotterdam, and others.