International Maritime Organization secretary general Kitack Lim has been heavily criticised by the Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC) over his comments regarding shipping emissions.
Limwrote a letter to European Union executives expressing his concerns about shipping being involved in a future European emissions trading scheme.
John Maggs, president of CSC, said: “The challenge of meeting the objective of the Paris Agreement is so great that it will require action at all levels.
“There is nothing that says action can only take place at IMO and indeed it would be counterproductive to concentrate only on the development of IMO measures, when processes there are often subject to delay.
“The IMO’s criticism of EU action is unfortunate and we call on Mr Secretary-General to take stock and press IMO members to urgently agree targets and measures at a global level.”
CSC also wonders whether IMO’s secretary general is aligning himself with shipping’s climate laggards by complaining to Europe.
Lim wrote yesterday: “I am concerned that a final decision to extend the EU-ETS to shipping emissions would not only be premature but would seriously impact on the work of IMO to address GHG emissions from international shipping.”
The Environment Committee of the European Parliament issued a decision last month which will see shipping included into EU ETS from 2023 only if the IMO fails to deliver a global agreement deal.
Faig Abbasov, clean shipping officer of Transport & Environment (T&E), said: “It is wrong for the head of the IMO to condemn the European Parliament’s actions, when it has the direct legitimacy of European citizens, and is working hard to protect those citizens from the impact of shipping's ever-increasing contribution to climate change.
“We are not aware of Mr Lim writing to those countries and industry bodies that have consistently been blocking progress on ship GHG emissions at IMO for years; it appears as if he is siding with them now.”
