IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim is urging a global collaborative approach toward meeting climate-action goals in response to a call from environmental groups.
The Worldwide Wildlife Fund and several other green advocates on Tuesday sent a letter to Lim pushing for higher carbon reduction goals and decarbonising the world fleet before 2050.
Lim thanked the NGOs for their open letter through a post on Twitter.
“I share your concerns, I agree working together is vital and appreciate your support," he wrote on the social media site.
"We must accelerate our efforts. We have no time to waste and we cannot afford to fail.”
Lim's comments reiterated his request to world leaders this week for "renewed cooperation from all stakeholders" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"When temperature records are routinely broken, icecaps are melting and some parts of the world are flooding while others are burning, there can be little doubt that addressing climate change must be humankind's major priority," he said.
A significant number of carbon-zero ships — or those that can be adapted to zero-carbon fuels — must enter the world fleet by the 2030s if IMO is to achieve its goal of reducing shipping's greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050, he said.
"Ambitious regulatory targets will act as the catalyst for technology, triggering research, development and innovation," he said.
"Now is the time to start developing the vessels, the fuels, the delivery mechanisms and all the other necessary infrastructure to support zero-emission shipping."
He said cooperation will be vital throughout the global supply chain to develop zero-carbon fuels, plan berth availability for speed optimisation and produce cleaner on-shore power for ships in port.
"Infrastructure developments and investment decisions also need to be made collaboratively," he said.
"Research and development initiatives need to be cross-sectorial. New technologies need to be transferable and scalable."
