Guardian ‘Governments have rejected calls for tougher regulation of international shipping, settling instead for new rules on reducing greenhouse gas emissions that campaigners say will imperil the Paris climate goals. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN body that regulates international shipping, agreed on Friday after a week-long online meeting to make an existing target legally binding: to reduce the carbon intensity of shipping by 40% compared with 2008 levels in the next 10 years. The conclusions, reached by ministers from around the world despite calls from the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and others for more stringent curbs on emissions, will go forward to the IMO’s marine environment protection committee for acceptance next month.

Campaigners said the deal would allow carbon dioxide emissions from shipping to continue to rise in the next decade, despite warnings from scientists that global emissions need to be brought down sharply over that period.

International shipping accounts for about 2.5% of global emissions, or about 1bn tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year – more than twice as much as the UK’s annual emissions. These emissions are set to double as international trade flows increase, making shipping a key source of carbon emissions, but one that has escaped the attention of policymakers as shipping and aviation have been largely left out of the last three decades of UN climate negotiations.

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IMO ‘IMO continues to contribute to the global fight against climate change, in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 13, to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

IMO has adopted mandatory measures to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from international shipping, under IMO’s pollution prevention treaty (MARPOL) – the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) mandatory for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP). To read about the IMO’s approach click here

European Union International shipping is a large and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. The EU supports global action to tackle these emissions and has put in place EU-wide data collection measures.

Thanks to Sian Pryor

IMO and Arctic States slammed for endorsing continued Arctic Pollution

The Clean Arctic Alliance slammed the decision by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to approve a ban ridden with loopholes on the use and carriage of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in the Arctic, saying it would leave the Arctic, its Indigenous communities and its wildlife facing the risk of a HFO spill for another decade. The draft Arctic HFO regulation includes loopholes – in the form of exemptions and waivers – which mean that despite its likely adoption in 2021 and entry into force in 2024, it will be nearly a decade before it becomes effective in July 2029. The Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of 21 non-profit organisations, has called for waivers to not be granted by Arctic coastal states and for the deadline beyond which the exemptions would not apply to be brought forward. IMO and Arctic States Slammed for Endorsing Continued Arctic Pollution – HFO-Free Arctic