• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit August 15, 2022
Historic Climate Bill Passes U.S. House, Goes to Biden for Signature August 15, 2022
BREAKING: U.S. Senate Passes Historic $369B Climate Package August 7, 2022
Researchers Point To ‘Dangerously Unexplored’ Risk of Global Climate Catastrophe August 2, 2022
Koch Network Pressures Manchin, Sinema as Advocates Praise ‘Game Changing’ Climate Deal August 2, 2022
Next
Prev

IMO Delivers ‘Miniscule Progress’ on Emissions, Watered Down Decision on Black Carbon

November 28, 2021
Reading time: 4 minutes
Primary Author: Compiled by The Energy Mix staff

Beat Strasser/Wikimedia Commons

Beat Strasser/Wikimedia Commons

1
SHARES
 

The UN International Maritime Organization (IMO) stands accused of settling for “miniscule progress” after a key committee “recognized the need to strengthen the ambition” of its greenhouse gas reduction plan but put off firm decisions on that plan until 2023—with some key countries objecting to faster action over the same international finance concerns that hobbled the COP 26 climate summit in Glasgow.

“The world is watching us,” IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim told the meeting of the organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) last week. And committee chair Hideaki Saito stressed the “urgency” of accelerating emissions cuts in light of the Glasgow Climate Pact adopted at the COP earlier in the month.

But like the COP itself, the IMO ended up kicking its toughest decisions down the road. Saito “said the committee could agree to invite interested member states and international organizations to submit concrete proposals for a revised strategy to MEPC78, next year, for consideration, but to MEPC80 (in 2023), for adoption.”

That was after the IMO’s current climate strategy was criticized as inadequate by UN Secretary General António Guterres.

“Ships emit around one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year. Without further action, shipping emissions are projected to reach 90 to 130% of their 2008 levels by 2050,” Climate Home News writes. “The IMO has a target of reducing international shipping’s emissions by at least 50% by 2050, compared to 2008 levels, which campaigners say is woefully inadequate and far from what is needed to limit global heating to 1.5°C.”

Against that backdrop, the MEPC result “is really minuscule progress,” and “it is not enough. We have 10 years to bring emissions down. We need to be halving emissions by 2030,” said Lucy Gilliam, shipping policy officer at Seas At Risk.

“To spend two years thinking about revising a strategy—is this incredibly tiny step a valid response to the climate crisis? We are not in climate denial, but we are in climate delay and that is dangerous.”

Clean Shipping Coalition President John Maggs added that it would take “deep cuts in emissions right now” to align the IMO’s efforts with a 1.5°C future, and the delay means “losing the effect of two years of ambition”.

Discussion during the two-day meeting last Monday and Tuesday centred on a resolution for zero emissions by 2050 put forward by the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands. Countries speaking against both the resolution and a 2050 zero-emission target included Brazil, China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The EU, Georgia, South Korea, the Bahamas, and Norway supported the targets but not the 2050 resolution, The Guardian says, while a minority of countries—including Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vanuatu—backed the resolution as well.

Climate Home says the resolution also gained the support of Panama, the country with the world’s largest flag registry for ocean-going vessels. But “major emerging economies including India, China, South Africa, and Turkey objected on equity grounds. They said the strategy needed to reflect differentiated responsibilities for climate change and deliver finance to help them decarbonize, with targets based on scientific data.”

Some observers said they saw signs of progress on emission reductions in the sector that accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s carbon pollution.

“We have a clear majority for zero by 2050,” said Opportunity Green CEO Aoife O’Leary, cited by Climate Home as a long-time observer of IMO negotiations. “I’m pleasantly surprised that the COP 26 momentum is holding, although it could be better and stronger.”

“It is clear from the discussion that there needs to be greater ambition than the 50% by 2050,” added independent consultant and former IMO staffer Edmund Hughes. “Achieving an agreement about the revised strategy is an important first step. Once you have revised the strategy you will have an understanding of what the goal is.” But “governments will only go forward at the pace they want to go forward.”

The Clean Arctic Alliance (CAA) welcomed a new commitment by IMO nations to cut back on black carbon emissions, based on “voluntary use of cleaner fuels by ships operating in or near the Arctic”. But while the committee resolution had the support of more than 30 national delegations, the Alliance said, “the wording was systematically and meticulously watered down by opposing countries and shipping interests,” with opposition coming from Angola, China, India, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

“We are disappointed that in the effort to placate a small but vocal coterie of opposing countries, important substance was lost from the original draft resolution, leaving us with a watered down version,” Said CAA Lead Advisor Sian Prior. “However, what is important is that this resolution now sends a strong message that domestic and regional action to reduce black carbon emissions from ships should proceed.”



in Arctic & Antarctica, Carbon Levels & Measurement, Community Climate Finance, Small Island States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Suncor Energy Plant_Max and Dee Bernt:Flickr
Ending Emissions

Fossils Would ‘Bust the Paris Agreement’ with Inadequate Decarbonization Plans

August 18, 2022
2
Ken Hodge/Flickr
Oil & Gas

No Path for Canadian LNG Exports to Europe, IISD Analysis Concludes

August 18, 2022
3
Andrew Dunn/wikimedia commons
Environmental Justice

Toronto Housing’s Flagship Green Retrofit to Deliver 70% Drop in Energy Use

August 18, 2022
2

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Brocken Inaglory/wikimedia commons

State-Wide Megastorm Driven by Global Heating Could Drench California for a Month

August 15, 2022
1.1k
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coal_Carbon_Capture_Technology_In_Use.png

Carbon Capture a ‘Dangerous Distraction’, 500 Organizations Warn Canada, U.S.

July 23, 2021
617
TGEGASENGINEERING/Wikimedia Commons

EXCLUSIVE: Hydrogen is Up, Pieridae is Out as German Chancellor Preps for Canada Visit

August 15, 2022
1.1k
Vinaykumar8687/WikimediaCommons

Solar On Track for ‘Staggering’ 30% Growth This Year

August 15, 2022
315
Early stages of construction on the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in France

Failing French Nuclear Plants Drive Up Electricity Costs as Heat Waves Cut Production

August 14, 2022
753
rawpixel

Common Medications Foil Body’s Ability to Cope with Hot Weather

August 15, 2022
205

Recent Posts

Suncor Energy Plant_Max and Dee Bernt:Flickr

Fossils Would ‘Bust the Paris Agreement’ with Inadequate Decarbonization Plans

August 18, 2022
2
Ken Hodge/Flickr

No Path for Canadian LNG Exports to Europe, IISD Analysis Concludes

August 18, 2022
3
Steve Jurvetson/flickr

The Other Kind of Climate Change: Even a ‘Limited’ Nuclear War Would Trigger Starvation, Kill Billions

August 18, 2022
75
kris krüg/flickr

Guilbeault Considering Alternatives to Releasing Toxic Tailings into Athabasca River

August 18, 2022
2
Ford F-150 LIghtning

U.S. Utility Plans to Draw Power from Ford Electric Pickups

August 18, 2022
2
power pylons sunrise grid

Midwestern U.S. Grid Investment Supports Massive Increase in Renewables

August 18, 2022
3
Next Post
Martin Davis/Facebook

Western Canada at Risk as Extreme Wildfires Increase World-Wide, NRCan Study Finds

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}