The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved on Wednesday (18.11.2020) a draft with new mandatory rules to reduce the carbon intensity of existing ships.
These requirements are based on existing mandatory energy efficiency requirements to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport.
The Committee also agreed with the mandate to assess the potential impacts on States, paying particular attention to the needs of developing countries, in particular small island developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs).
The draft amendments to the MARPOL Convention would require ships to combine a technical and operational approach to reduce carbon intensity.
The initiative is in line with the ambition of the IMO's initial Greenhouse Gas Strategy, which aims to reduce the carbon intensity of international shipping by 40% by 2030., compared to 2008.
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said: “There is still considerable work to be done to implement the measures, but I am confident that the spirit of IMO cooperation demonstrated over recent years will enable rapid progress to be made, as will the essential work of comprehensively assessing the impact of the measures on developing countries, small island developing States and least developed countries.”
He said the amendments adopted were important building blocks without which further discussions on medium- and long-term measures would not be possible.
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