Reports from recent IMO MEPC meeting suggests continued "emissions reductions only" focus

[Ron Baiman]

Dear Colleagues,

As many of you know we received an acknowledgement of receipt from the IMO Secretary General's office that suggested that proposals in the HPAC letter (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R9Kg3d1DozwuxPIjyLWljb9Lld_pJCVm/view?usp=sharing) might be considered in some way at this month's IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting.

Recent reporting (see links copied below) suggests that the meeting focused on moving more quickly to non-GHG fuels via mandated carbon taxes or offsets. This is all for the good, and is fully consistent with the HPAC letter (and cooling paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b0ZHsWX-z1qP5m0sYv5SbRB5xLxzP4Gq/view?usp=sharing ) that has two proposals: a) an emergency measure to relax sulfur regulations on fossil fuels (while they are still being used) on the "high seas", and b) transition to non-GHG emitting fuels that also included substitute cooling aerosols.

As climate reporting (conventionally) focuses on GHG emissions so it's hard to know if they discussed or considered a) (until non-GHG fuels are fully implemented) or b) of the HPAC petition.  I'm not holding my breath that they seriously considered or acted on these but believe these proposals are an important "hook" to focus attention on urgent DCC, regardless of what the IMO does or does not do!

The statements to the meeting from the (mostly) developing country reps quoted in the report on the MEPC 81 meeting may be useful for future lobbying for the proposals in the HPAC IMO letter.

Best,

Ron Baiman

Wärtsilä Corp. released a new report finding that sustainable maritime shipping fuels can reach cost parity with fossil fuels by 2035. The report finds that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and FuelEU Maritime Initiative will more than double fossil fuel costs by 2030, closing the price gap by 2035 with sustainable fuels. The report includes new modeling that shows a timeline for which fuels will be best deployed. 

The International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 81) meeting came to a close with countries supporting a global greenhouse gas price on maritime shipping. Member states from across North America, Africa, Caribbean and Europe all expressed support for a price on GHG emissions, leading to the IMO’s first-ever agreed draft outline of a legislative framework for economic measure and fuel standard that mandates a growing share of green energy used in ships.