NGOs criticize the pace of decarbonization of ships – 07/07/2023 – Environment

The UN (United Nations) adopted the goal of decarbonizing maritime transport by around 2050, with the indication of reducing 20% ​​to 30% of the sector’s carbon emissions by 2030 and 70% to 80% by 2040 .

The decision was made official this Friday morning (7) at the plenary session of the IMO (International Maritime Organization) to long applause. The new strategy for greenhouse gases in the maritime sector achieved unprecedented consensus among the 175 member countries of the UN body.

Celebrated by the UN as a historic agreement for the sector, the decision was praised by countries from different blocs as the best possible result given the divergence of views.

“It is the highest success of climate policy after the Paris Agreement,” said IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim at the final plenary.

At the final plenary of the IMO, Bruno Carvalho Arruda, representative of the Itamaraty, also gave a laudatory speech. “What does it mean, in an unstable world, to come together around a common goal, coming from different regions, with different priorities? It means that multilateralism is alive, useful and is the only way to build solutions,” he said.

The decision on the creation of a carbon tax for ships was expected for the meeting, but was postponed to 2025, after strong objection from developing countries, coming mainly from Brazil and China.

Countries agreed to study the impacts of different carbon pricing mechanisms over the next two years, when they must choose a taxation model – which should only come into force in 2027.

The agreed forecast of zeroing the sector’s emissions by around 2050 is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change, which provides for limiting global warming to between 1.5°C and 2°C.

Short-term targets, however, fail to align with the IPCC (UN climate panel) recommendation to keep warming to 1.5°C. To this end, the sector should halve its emissions by 2030, a much more ambitious goal than the agreed one, which is expected to reduce from 20% to 30%.

According to an estimate by the ICCT (International Council on Clean Transportation), international shipping will exceed its current share of the world’s carbon budget of 1.5°C by approximately 2032, but will still stay below 2°C within the carbon budget. compatible with a heating of 1.7°C.

With the worsening of the climate crisis, the commitment to the 1.5°C ceiling has become more sensitive, especially for island countries, which are already losing territory to rising sea levels, and for the nations most vulnerable to extreme events .

The bloc, however, showed satisfaction with the agreement, after having managed to pressure the countries for 5% more ambitious targets for 2030 and 2040. Sheet showed, Brazil helped to sew these higher goals, going from villain to good guy throughout the negotiation.

The misalignment to the 1.5°C ceiling marked the tone of criticism from environmental NGOs to the decision. More than a dozen organizations criticized the lack of commitment to a 50% reduction in the sector’s emissions by 2030.

“The IMO emissions reduction strategy missed the boat for the [teto de] 1.5°C. There is no time for half measures, vague commitments and slow progress. We need all sectors to follow the science and raise their ambition to limit warming below catastrophic levels,” said Mark Lutes, WWF representative at the talks.

In a statement, the president of the Clean Shipping Coalition, John Maggs, said that “there is no excuse”. “They knew what the science required and that a 50% cut in emissions by 2030 was possible and affordable. Instead, the agreed level of ambition falls far short of what is needed to ensure keeping global warming below 1.5 °C, and the language is apparently designed to be vague and non-committal,” he said.

“The most vulnerable fought an admirable fight for high ambition and significantly improved the agreement, but we are still a long way from IMO treating the climate crisis with the urgency it deserves and that the public demands,” he added.

However, negotiators of the decision heard by the Sheet consider the prospect of alignment in the short term with the global recommendation of the UN climate panel to 1.5°C to be illusory.

According to negotiators, it would be impracticable to reduce emissions by half in less than seven years, considering that the maritime transport sector today is 100% dependent on fossil fuels, such as diesel and bunker oils.

For the secretary general of the IMO, it would not be feasible to gain speed in the reduction of emissions already for 2030, because it would still be the beginning of the race, when more strength is required to move the sector.

“I’m not worried about 2030, but about 2040. The target of reducing up to 80% means giving the maximum we can”, stated Kitack Lim to the press, after the plenary.

For associations linked to the energy transition of the shipbuilding industry, the decision plays the role of signaling to the sector a direction of accelerated replacement of fossil fuels by renewable sources —such as wind propulsion, biofuels, in addition to green hydrogen and ammonia.

“We know that this decision is not in line with the goal of [manter o aquecimento global abaixo de] 1.5°C, but it’s still a milestone”, said Gavin Allwright, secretary general of the International Windship Association, at the end of the IMO plenary.

The secretary general of the Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association, Madadh MacLaine, in the plenary, admitted that “it is not enough for 1.5°C, but it is enough to trigger the investment [em energias renováveis para o setor]”.

The new targets “should accelerate the introduction of truly sustainable alternative fuels,” Marie Cabbia Hubatova, director of maritime transport at the Environmental Defense Fund, also said in a note.

In reference to the lack of approval of an economic mechanism, she claims that the sector must work in the next two years to approach the Paris Agreement, the standard for other sectors whose emissions are also difficult to abate.

“We have the political signal that we need, as a sector, to work on the implementation of the energy transition”, he told Sheet the public relations coordinator of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Jan-Christoph Napierski.

Focused on researching solutions for renewable energy in maritime transport, the institution is sponsored by Maersk, one of the largest maritime cargo transport companies in the world and which tests the use of biofuels on ships with the aim of reaching climate neutrality by 2040 .

Two years ago, the president of Maersk, Søren Skou, even defended, on his LinkedIn page, that countries adopt a carbon tax for ships of at least US$ 450 per ton —4.5 times higher than the rate proposed by the island countries.

“If fully implemented, the strategy will help maintain the target of [aumento de] temperature of 1.5°C within range,” says Susan Ruffo, director of oceans and climate at the United Nations Foundation.

“The strategy sends an unequivocal signal to investors that the ships being ordered today, and many already built, must be capable of running on zero-emission fuels,” states the University Maritime Advisory Services analysis published on Friday.

“With a combination of further IMO action and national, regional and industry action, a 1.5°C aligned greenhouse gas reduction path is more clearly within reach than before,” the report states.

_{The journalist traveled at the invitation of the Global Strategic Communications Council (GSCC).}