An Ambitious Global Effort to Cut Shipping Emissions Stalls

An ambitious, global agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions from shipping in half by mid-century stalled as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) failed to approve any specific emission reduction measures at a meeting in London this week.

"We've seen no progress on the actual development
of measures and lots of procedural wrangling," said
 John Maggs, president of the Clean Shipping Coalition,
an environmental organization. "We've effectively
 lost a year at a time when we really don't have much time."

The IMO, a United Nations agency whose member states cooperate on regulations governing the international shipping industry, agreed in April to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping 50 percent by 2050. The details—along with efforts to reduce the sulfur content in fuel oil, reduce plastic litter from the shipping industry, and steps toward banning the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic—were to be worked out at a meeting of its Marine Environment Protection Committee this week.

The committee considered a cap on ship speeds and other short-term measures that could reduce emissions before 2023, as well as higher efficiency standards for new container ships, but none of those measures was approved.

Read the Inside Climate News story by Phil McKenna - “An Ambitious Global Effort to Cut Shipping Emissions Stalls.”