The time to act is now
With the global maritime industry gathered in Oslo for Nor-Shipping, we look forward to develop a common understanding across the industry to push for higher ambitions on decarbonization and faster technology development as crucial contributions from our industry to tackle the climate crisis.
The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association believes maritime regulations, as far as possible, should be developed on an international level and under the direction of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to ensure fair competition and to be as effective as possible.
In our view, there is a pressing need for the IMO to adopt an ambitious climate strategy with a clear zero emissions goal by 2050 and put a price on CO2-emissions.
With only a few weeks to go until the 80th meeting of IMO’s environmental committee (MEPC-80) in July, which will decide on the revised climate strategy, the time for action is now.
The industry needs an IMO that shows leadership. The MEPC meeting in July will be seen as an important milestone, and we need bold decisions from the international regulator of our industry.
Put a price on emissions
In 2020, The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association launched our own climate strategy. From 2030 our members will only order vessels based on zero emission technology. By 2050, the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association members aim to operate a climate neutral fleet.
The most important market-based mechanism to reduce emissions will be to put a price on greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. The income from a CO2 levy should be used to finance the green transition in shipping by reducing the price of alternative energy.
The IMO's original climate strategy was adopted in 2018 and set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by at least 50 per cent by 2050 compared to 2008 levels.
The strategy also called for the development of short-term measures to help achieve this goal, including energy efficiency standards for new ships and the development of a carbon intensity indicator (CII) for existing ships.
Particularly the CII has shown significant weaknesses which in a worst-case scenario could result in less efficient travel patterns, higher fuel consumption and higher green-house-gas emissions.
The IMO needs to come up with new and more efficient measures and the time to act is now.