In November IMO met to approve a series of amendments to international shipping pollution regulations. The new measures are met with disappointment from several stakeholders, among them is EU-politician Jutta Paulus. At our annual conference, we gathered representatives from IMO, the EU and The Norwegian Shipowner’s association for a debate on the topic.
On 16-20 November the IMO’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC 75) met digitally to discuss and agree on measures to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships. Here, the MEPC adopted amendments to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) to strengthen the requirements of the Energy efficiency Design Index (EEDI) – meaning that new ships built from 2022 will have to be significantly more energy-efficient.
IMO on track
At NCE Maritime ClenTech’s annual conference, Specialist Director of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment and IMO representative, Sveinung Oftedal, stated that IMO is on track meeting the 2030-targets.
— On the IMO level, we are on track on following up what we have agreed upon in our strategy. We have developed new measures that will enable us to meet the 2030-targets. I see a clear willingness among all IMO member states to go further in order to take the next steps to reach the 2050 targets, said Oftedal.
Heavily criticized
The new measures are heavily criticized by several stakeholders; environmental organizations, industry organizations and EU-politicians. Among them is Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) Jutta Paulus, who led this year’s negotiations resulting in European Parliament’s decision on stricter monitoring of CO2 emissions from maritime transport. This also includes the inclusion of maritime shipping in the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) by January 1, 2022.
— According to calculations made after the last IMO meeting, the new measures will lead to a lower increase of emissions until 2030. There are no means of enforcement, and the measures are not sufficient. Thus, EU needs to move on with their own measures to speed up the development, said Paulus.