Environmentalist groups have called on the IMO to soon establish transparent digital channels for discussions over decarbonisation regulations, saying “informal” talks were taking place with invitations only sent to select members.
The United Nations body has postponed all meetings at its London headquarters between early March and end-July during the Covid-19 lockdown, prompting worries among shipowners over possible delays in regulatory process.
In a letter sent to IMO secretary general Kitack Lim on Monday, Clean Shipping Coalition, Greenpeace International, Pacific Environment and the World Wide Fund for Nature said they understood some member states were arranging “informal” online groups to discuss decarbonisation measures.
“ In the interests of transparency, perhaps you could request that invitations for these discussions are sent to all Member States and organisations in consultative status, particularly developing countries, SIDS (Small Island Developing States) and LDCs (Least Developed Countries),” they suggested.
The groups – which all have co consultative status – have been approached for further comment on the natural of discussions being arranged.
TradeWinds understands the organisations are not particularly seeking to lay blame on those member states but more aiming at expediting the IMO’s preparation for holding virtual meetings.
Regulatory roadmap
If short-term decarbonisation measures are to come into force by 2023 as planned, member states of the United Nations body have to finalise the rules this year.
As per IMO’s formal regulatory procedure, states would approve the rules at the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) sessions after ironing out their details at intersessional working groups.
But those face-to-face meetings have not been able to take place, with lockdown measures still effective in the UK and many other countries.
“ Given that many parts of the world are only in the very early stages of this pandemic, there is no guarantee that a safe and fully attended in-person ISWG-GHG (intersessional working groups) or MEPC can be held later this year, or even next year,” the letter said.
“As such, we feel the IMO must move much faster in setting up digital channels, to allow a representative, global discussion involving member states and observers to continue in these difficult times, along the lines of what other multilateral organisations are doing.”
In early April, the four groups had called on the IMO to hold working groups and MEPC sessions in digital formats, fearing a significant delay to regulatory process.
The IMO Secretariat stated it was exploring on how to hold virtual meetings but suggested the capacity of simultaneous interpretation into its six official languages was lacking.
In response, the environmentalists said that working groups do not require interpretation based on past formats and that the IMO should arrange a trial session online.
