A $5bn research fund backed by mandatory contributions from ships with a capacity above 5,000 gt is the only viable option to achieve climate change goals, major maritime industry groups said on Wednesday.
They urged adoption by year-end.
Global shipping fully and unequivocally backs the “moonshot proposal” submitted by governments that represent some of the biggest shipping nations, the groups said. The joint statement was issued by International Chamber of Shipping, Bimco, Intercargo, Intertanko, World Shipping Council, CLIA, IMCA and Interferry.
The governments behind this initiative for a mandatory contribution scheme include Greece, Japan, Liberia, Malta, Nigeria, Singapore and Switzerland.
According to the proposal, each commercial ship with a capacity of at least 5,000 gt should make annual contributions to the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Research Fund (IMRF) at a rate and value that has yet to be determined.
A lower rate shall apply to ships using alternative low-carbon fuels or energy sources that result in emissions lower than those generated by conventional fuels.
Under the plan, the IMRF will annually provide complying ships with an account statement confirming their contribution. If a ship changes management, each owner will be liable to contribute for the period that he or she controlled the ship.
Shipping groups called on other governments to approve the proposal at an IMO meeting in London in November. The groups called the meeting “critical”. It coincides with the United Nations' next climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
Governments should be “on the right [side] of history” and support this “ambitious proposal”, the shipping associations said. The statement comes in response to a call by Antonio Guterres, the secretary general of the UN, for “urgency and ambition” on climate change.
“This is the only fully detailed proposal available to deliver the speed and scale called for by … Guterres,” the groups said.
The big challenge is not to create a single zero-carbon ship but rather to create the technologies needed to decarbonise the entire global fleet, they added.
“The sooner the IMO Maritime Research Fund is established, the sooner industry can develop zero-emission ships,” they wrote.
“Failure by UN member states to support this initiative could significantly set back progress towards the decarbonisation of shipping.”
