The IMO has decided to ditch proposals for a mandatory slow steaming regulation and instead use a goal-setting approach to reduce shipping's carbon emissions in the short term.
The organisation's working group for greenhouse (GHG) emissions agreed the strategy at a meeting held in London this week and will resolve its finer details early next year.
The meeting concluded that a mandatory goal-based approach would provide flexibility in reducing emissions and would incentivise innovation across the industry, according to the UK Chamber of Shipping, which attended the IMO meeting this week.
The strategy itself will comprise both a technical and an operational approach, both of which will be refined at the next meeting of the IMO working group that starts on 23 March.
The next meeting will also develop implementation and enforcement of the goal-based approach.
It will also discuss how to accurately measure the efficiency of individual vessels and set targets for them, and how to establish a representative 2008 baseline for measurement.
Industry reaction
Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, reacted to the news by underlining the need for urgency and a level playing field.
“We urgently need pragmatic solutions that will deliver real-world reductions in GHG emissions that are truly equitable," he said on Friday.
"These measures must be based on sound evidence that will work in real-life situations.
"The reality is that if we are to meet the 2050 deadline, we do not have time to waste. We need to start preparing now and the solutions will have to work in the real world.”
Anna Ziou, policy director at the UK Chamber of Shipping, who attended the IMO meeting this week, said it had a "positive outcome".
“The progress made sets the right direction of travel and is a good foundation for the IMO’s work to put the strategy into action," she said.
"However, there is still a lot to be done and we encourage all parties to show at the next meeting the same level of cooperation and come forward with constructive ideas to make sure that we deliver the ambitions of the IMO Green House Gas strategy.”
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