International shipping industry groups have teamed up with prominent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to lobby for a bigger role in how the industry cleans up, and pays for, its carbon emissions.
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) joined global NGOs Oxfam and WWF at this week’s UN climate talks in Durban to call for self-regulation by the shipping industry on climate matters.
The ICS is an industry association that represents over 80 per cent of the world’s merchant fleet.
In a statement released on Tuesday, ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe said that the industry would agree to contributions to a UN climate fund for developing countries, if the industry could determine its own regulation on pollution.
The Green Climate Fund, adopted last year in Cancun under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is meant to distribute US$100 billion annually by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
“It is in the best interests of both the environment and developing nations for shipping to be regulated via our industry regulator, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), with the same rules for carbon reduction applying to all internationally trading ships, but in a manner which respects the principles of the UN climate convention,” he said.
Mr Hinchcliffe added that the industry had a “clear preference” for raising funds through measures linked to ships’ fuel consumption, such as a fuel tax, as compared to an emissions trading scheme. Emissions trading schemes require participating companies to purchase permits for the emissions they produce.
As global climate negotiations pick up pace this week, the shipping industry’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – which account for just over three per cent of overall emissions – have come under increasing scrutiny from the international community.
In the absence of global agreements to limit shipping-related emissions, industry leaders fear that regional measures such as a European Union emissions trading scheme (ETS) will unfairly impact shipping companies from different areas. The EU had previously floated the idea of including the shipping industry in its emissions trading scheme.
The aviation industry is scheduled to join the scheme in 2012, but the measure is being opposed by several non-EU nations such as the United States and China.
Earlier, in September, Oxfam and WWF had jointly launched a report which found that a global fuel levy was the best way to cut emissions within the sector and provide funding for a UN Green Climate Fund at the same time. The report suggested that a US$25 tax on each tonne of shipping fuel could raise US$10billion annually for the fund.
In Tuesday’s statement, both NGOs supported the industry’s plea for self-regulation.
Leader of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative, Samantha Smith, said, “We agree with shipowners that the best place to work out the details of how shipping’s emissions can be tackled using market based measures will be at the International Maritime Organization.”
According to the statement, leaders at the climate talks should provide guidance to the industry for how they should apply the UNFCCC principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’ (CBDR). CBDR allows for differing levels of action from developing and developed nations within global agreements.
Oxfam’s climate change policy advisor, Tim Gore, said: “Industry and civil society actors agree that shipping emissions can be regulated in a way which is fair to developing countries and could help generate the resources they need to tackle climate change.”
“It’s vital that governments meeting this month at the UN climate talks in Durban give the signal needed to move such a deal forward in the International Maritime Organization,” he added.
However, not everyone agrees that the IMO can move fast enough.
At a recent sustainable shipping event in Singapore, London-based NGO Forum for the Future’s founder and director Sir Jonathon Porritt told Eco-Business that better options exist for accelerating progress on the industry’s emissions reductions.
Sir Jonathon noted that the IMO, having just successfully established international standards for the energy efficient designs of new ships, showed no sense of urgency for dealing with the more immediate problem of the emissions from existing ships.
The Forum for the Future works with industry groups and government on sustainability. Its Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), a collaboration of NGOs and shipping-related companies working for the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the industry, had recently unveiled its vision of developing a sustainable industry by 2040.
Regarding the industry’s progress on reducing its environmental impact, Sir Jonathon said the “pace of change does not match the scale of the challenge.” In response, the SSI has garnered a list of signatories from within the industry who are prepared to act in their own name to “drive things forward faster.”
The initiative’s steering committee has created four different areas for action, which will be ready for launch in 2012.
Those areas, called ‘work streams’, are financing for new technology, reducing the life-cycle impact of ships, creating common standards for sustainable performance and promoting new innovations that will help transform the industry.
The 15 initial signatories include ship builders, owner and operators such as South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Denmark’s Maersk Line, and the UK-registered China Navigation Company. Signatories from related industries include Dutch bank ABN Amro, London-based marine insurer RSA and global consumer goods company Unilever.
China Navigation managing director Tim Blackburn, who also attended the 40-strong SSI meeting of regional industry players, told the group that it was in the best interests of the industry to plan for the environmental and economic challenges ahead.
In addition to environmental impacts, his firm, which plans over a 30 year time frame, has identified problem areas such as rising oil prices, limited numbers of skilled professionals, increasingly difficult access to financing and fragile economies.
“The industry has to continue to build improvements into ships to stay competitive,” he said, adding that improving propulsion systems and developing alternative fuels were key areas for research.
He noted that the shipping industry is the life-blood of the global economy - ships transport 90 per cent of the global goods traded - but that the industry did not have a great track record for working together.
The Sustainable Shipping Initiative was a timely opportunity to bring together major players in the industry who wanted to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, said Mr Blackburn.
Sustainable Shipping Initiative from Forum for the Future on Vimeo.
