Green House Gas Study News

In advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December, the global shipping industry, as represented by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), has launched some key messages to government negotiators, explaining the impressive progress the industry is making to reduce its carbon footprint. According to ICS, the global industry is already delivering carbon neutral growth having reduced total CO2 emissions by more than 10% since 2007, despite an increase in maritime trade. CO2 emissions from international shipping now represent just 2.2% of the world’s total CO2 emissions compared to 2.8% in 2007 (UN IMO Green House Gas Study, 2014).

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have supported draft EU rules requiring ship-owners using EU ports to monitor and report CO2 emissions each year. The text establishes an EU-wide system for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping, in order to improve the information about ship efficiency and emissions and to encourage reducing emissions and fuel consumption. Cargo owners and ship operators have been crying out for efficiency data, as the more cargo a ship can carry using the same amount of fuel, the more efficient, cleaner and cheaper the service. The new rules will apply from 2018 onwards to ships over 5…

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has dismissed the recent claim by the European environmental lobby group Transport and Environment (T&E) that modern ships are somehow less CO2 efficient than those built over 20 years ago as ‘fanciful’. ICS said T&E bases its claims on a report it has commissioned from the respected consultancy CE Delft, but it has used the findings very selectively. Moreover, the actual data from which the report’s analysis is derived finishes before the worldwide implementation of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). This came into force in 2013 as part of the IMO mandatory package of CO2 reduction measures (amendments to MARPOL Annex VI).

Germanischer Lloyd's traditional recap of the latest session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of International Maritime Organization (IMO), focused on the surprising developments at the 65th session. MPEC 65, held in London in May, saw the IMO potentially postpone the introduction of the TIER III NOx limits contained in regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI, scheduled to come into effect in 2016, to 2021. Apart from the turn around on NOx, the 65th Session saw adjustments to the compliance timeline for the Ballast Water Convention (BWC)…