"ICS warmly welcomes the ambitious agreement reached today by governments at the IMO so that transport achieves net-zero emissions "within or around 2050", in line with the Paris Agreement and the commitment made from the maritime sector to COP 26 in Glasgow in 2021». It has said Simon Bennett, Deputy Secretary General of International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) commenting on the conclusion of negotiations this week's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the reduction of greenhouse gases generated by ships ( of 7 July 2023).

"This historic agreement at the IMO - added Bennett - gives a very strong signal to the ship operators and, what more important, to the energy producers who now have to supply urgently zero greenhouse gas marine fuels in large amounts if a transition is to be possible so fast."

The MEPC agreed to schedule so-called " indicative controls" in 2030 and 2040 in order to assess the progress of reducing these emissions, setting targets non-binding and, in the opinion of the first observations by the environmental organizations, very limited relatively, in in particular, the expected decrease for 2030 equal to at least 20% compared to 2008 levels. According to Bennett, however, 'The agreed checkpoints for 2030 and 2040 shall be particularly ambitious. The sector - he assured - will everything possible to achieve these objectives, including Absolute reduction of 70-80% of greenhouse gas emissions now request to the entire global maritime sector by 2040. But- The Deputy Secretary-General put his hands forward of the international shipowning association - this can be reached only if the IMO quickly accepts a Global tax on greenhouse gas emissions from ships in support of a "funding and reward" mechanism, such as proposed by the sector ( of 25 October 2022, ed). We have - Bennett has emphasized - Urgent need to reduce the fuel cost gap conventional and alternative marine and encourage Production and adoption of new fuels at scale now necessary to cope with this accelerated transition. 2040 is in less than 17 years and the availability of marine fuels at zero GHG today it is practically zero».

"It is very positive - continued Bennett - that the Majority of governments now support a transport tax seafarers involving flat-rate contributions from ships for tonne of greenhouse gases emitted to an IMO fund for Accelerate a quick transition. The "Financing" proposal and reward" of the ICS remains firmly on the table as workable solution and will now be evaluated of global impact by UNCTAD to be completed by the start next year, so that an economic measure can be adopted in 2025. This will be vital if we want to Achieve success in the use of new fuels by 2030 to achieve the extremely ambitious goal that the IMO now has set for 2040'.

"ICS - concluded the deputy secretary general of the shipowning association - is confident that this Economic impact assessment will demonstrate that the proposal "fund and reward", or something similar, is The only viable way forward if the ambitious objectives of reduction of greenhouse gases agreed by the IMO this week can remain realistic and achievable. This week's agreement is historical for our industry and sends the very strong message that The maritime sector is serious about reaching net zero and to cope with dangerous climate change in in line with the Paris Agreement'.