Transparency International has hit out at a lack of corporate governance at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ahead of a decisive meeting at the London based shipping regulator on setting targets for emissions reduction.
In a report released today it said that private shipping interests have an “undue influence” on the decision making process at the IMO and undermine the organization.
Transparency International chose to release its preliminary findings of its ongoing study just as an IMO working group kicks off the first round of talks today that are set to result in it agreeing greenhouse gas emission targets for shipping.
Transparency International listed a number of concerns it has over the IMO governance.
It said that non-governmental organsations (NGO) could be expelled for criticising the IMO and journalists are being gagged.
With the five leading flag states contributing nearly half of the IMO’s funding it said that these ship registers carried “exaggerated weight” in the decision making process.
Governments, it added, often appointed employees from the private sector to their IMO delegations who can be influential in shaping policy.
Commenting on the slow progress of agreeing a strategy on climate change at the IMO Transparency International said:
“A well-functioning organisation’s governance structure should enable decisive action, but the governance flaws identified by our research suggests that this is not happening at the IMO because policy-making could be overly controlled by private companies.”
Transparency International did compliment the IMO on its transparency and access to information.
But it urged the organization to “establish a stronger governance framework.”
