Open Letter to IMO on Bunker Fuel Regulation has been Transmitted to the IMO
Ron Baiman
Cools the Atmosphere While Preserving Air Quality Benefits": https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R9Kg3d1DozwuxPIjyLWljb9Lld_pJCVm/view
Dear Mr. Baiman,
On behalf of the International Maritime Organization (IMO),I wish to acknowledge receipt of your message below.
Please be assured that your message has been forwarded to the relevant division within the IMO for further review and appropriate action. We endeavor to respond to your inquiry promptly, and we appreciate your patience in the meantime.
Best regards,
Executive Office of the Secretary-General
|
From: Baiman, Ron P. <rba...@ben.edu> Sent: Friday, January 26, 2024 7:30 PMTo: info <in...@imo.org>Subject: Open Letter on Shipping Fuel Regulation Importance: High
You don't often get email from rba...@ben.edu. Learn why this is important |
Mr. Arseno Dominquez
IMO - Secretary General
Chair, Marine Environment Protection Committee
International Maritime Organization
4, Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7SR
United Kingdom
Jan. 26, 2024
Dear Mr. Dominquez:
We would like to submit the (attached and linked to) letter to the March 2024 meeting of the Maritime Environment Protection Committee for consideration and possible adaption:
As I'm sure you are aware recent evidence suggests that a significant "reverse termination shock" warming effect from 2015 and 2020 IMO Bunker Fuel regulations has been an important factor in causing an unprecedented increase in harmful ocean warming over shipping lanes and for the planet. In particular, as documented in the technical appendix to our letter, Hansen et al. 2023 estimate that the 2015 and 2020 IMO bunker fuel sulfur content regulations have increased global forcing by 1.05 W/m2 and were a major cause for 2023 being the hottest year by far on record:
Again, as documented in the technical appendix to our letter, at least one study, Partenan et al. (2013), suggests that partially relaxing these regulations outside of IMO Emissions Control Areas would significantly cool the oceans and still reduce premature deaths from shipping sulfates by 34,900 (compared to 48,200 without relaxation). As documented in footnote 10 of the technical appendix, harm to humans and ecosystems from significant warming is estimated to be orders of magnitude large than either of these figures (or their difference), and ongoing research and testing suggests that there may be ways to include cooling aerosol precursors in current and future non-GHG emitting shipping fuels, we ask that the IMO urgently support and sponsor research, pilot testing and emergency regulations, that would:
1) Partially relax the IMO’s maritime bunker fuel sulfur emissions regulation for “high seas” maritime transport outside of Emissions Control Areas in ways that - as much as possible-- would increase the global cooling benefits of sulfur or similar aerosols without causing harm to humans or natural systems, and
2) Require that benign tropospheric aerosol precursors such as sea water (referred to as the “marine cloud brightening method”) or other possible tropospheric aerosols (referred to as the “climate catalysts method”) that would create the global cooling benefits of sulfur aerosols without - as much as possible - causing harm to humans or natural systems be included in existing fuel, and in future non-GHG and net-zero GHG emitting fuel (Baiman et al., 2023).
Thank you for your consideration and please contact me with any questions or concerns that you may have.
We would be most appreciative of your response at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Ron Baiman
Corresponding Author:
"An Open Letter to the IMO Supporting the Utilization of Ship Fuels that
Cool the Atmosphere While Preserving Air Quality Benefits"
Tel: (708) 341-3205 (USA)
Ron Baiman Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics (Retired)
Benedictine University, USAEmail: rba...@ben.edu