The International Maritime Organization has arranged a series of virtual meetings as pressure grows on the regulator to agree a series of measures to curb carbon emissions from shipping.
The first key dates are between 19 and 23 October when the Intersessional Working Group on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships is scheduled for a remote meeting.
At that meeting it is hoped that the groundwork for an agreement on measures to reduce shipping’s carbon emissions can be drawn up.
However, there are concerns that the remote nature of the meetings may hamper progress on what are likely to be highly technical discussions.
It will be followed by the all-important Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting, which is scheduled to take place between 16 and 20 November. There it is hoped that a political agreement between IMO member states will be made on the measures.
The meetings schedule at the IMO's London headquarters has been severely disrupted by coronavirus travel restrictions this year, stalling progress on emissions reduction talks.
Under pressure
The IMO needs to press on with discussions, however, as measures must be in place by 2023 if the organisation is to achieve its stated goal of improving the carbon intensity of shipping by 40%, compared with 2008 levels, by the end of this decade. Carbon intensity is a measure of emissions relative to cargo transported.
However, shipping’s emissions continue to grow, according to a recent assessment commissioned by the IMO.
This has led to the suggestion that even greater improvements to shipping’s carbon intensity might be necessary if the IMO is to achieve its ambition to keep shipping in line with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Among the other remote meetings scheduled by the IMO, the Maritime Safety Committee is to convene between 4 and 11 November and the Legal Committee between 27 and 30 November.
