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(13 November 2020) – Progress in reducing emissions in the global shipping sector hangs in the balance as a controversial policy recommendation will be decided next week by member countries of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). If approved, the policy would have the effect of significantly weakening the IMO’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Strategy.

Environmental groups, including WWF, are urging members to not backtrack on their own commitments to urgently decarbonize the global shipping sector

A decision on the controversial policy recommendation - known as Annex 1 of ISWG-GHG7-WP.1- Rev.1 - will be considered at the Marine Environment Protection Committee virtual meeting (MEPC75), taking place next week (16-20 November).
 
The proposal will not cap, let alone reduce, the shipping sector’s one billion tonnes (and rising) of annual emissions this decade. This is happening at the very time that climate scientists say we must halve global GHG emissions this decade to stay within a relatively safe 1.5℃ of global warming.
 
This means the “Rev.1" text violates the initial IMO GHG Strategy in three crucial ways. It will fail to reduce emissions before 2023, will not peak emissions as soon as possible, and will not set shipping CO₂ emissions on a pathway consistent with the Paris Agreement goals.
 
Any country that supports the adoption of “Rev.1”, and its abandonment of any effort to tackle climate change in the short term, loses any moral ground to criticize regions or nations trying to tackle shipping emissions, as part of their economy-wide national emission reduction targets and climate plans.
 
WWF Senior Specialist, Sustainable Shipping Andrew Dumbrille said: “The targets included in the IMO initial strategy already fail to contribute to shipping's fair share of efforts consistent with keeping global temperature rise to 1.5˚C. What we need now is bold action, and the decision to be considered by MEPC75 must be rejected if the IMO and the global shipping sector want to truly play a leadership role on the way to a net-zero emissions future.”
 
“We urge all countries to reject this weak proposal at MEPC75 next week”, said Clean Shipping Coalition President John Maggs, who has observer status at the talks. "No deal is better than a terrible greenwash deal - that pretends to regulate shipping’s CO₂ emissions but actually allows them to keep growing indefinitely.”
 
This press release is issued by:
 
Pacific Environment Madeline Rose mrose@pacificenvironment.org
Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC) John Maggs jmaggs@seas-at-risk.org
Transport & Environment Faig Abbasov faig.abbasov@transportenvironment.org
Ocean Conservancy Dan Hubbell dhubbell@oceanconservancy.org 
Carbon Market Watch Wijnand Stoefs wijnand.stoefs@carbonmarketwatch.org 
WWF International Andrew Dumbrille adumbrille@wwfcanada.org
 
NOTES TO EDITORS:
 
Annex 1 of ISWG-GHG7-WP.1- Rev.1. (previously called the J/5.rev1 proposal) has three main weaknesses as a piece of regulation:

These purposefully designed weaknesses means the proposal would, at best, now curb only 0.65% to 1.3% of GHG emissions from a business-as-usual growth pathway by 2030, according to ICCT, where the business as usual pathway is +15% above the industry’s 2008 baseline. This leaves shipping sector emissions around 14% higher in 10 years time than today.

For further information, contact Mandy Jean Woods mwoods@wwfint.org