Environment Committee News

A large number of ports across the United States are making headway toward ambitious decarbonization targets, but many are running up against significant challenges that threaten their progress, according to a new report from classification society ABS and trade group the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).Financial constraints, low technology readiness and physical space limitations are among key obstacles identified the ABS and AAPA report, "Port Decarbonization Survey: Trends and Lessons Learned"…

DNV has introduced new class rules for electrical shore connections specifically tailored for tankers.The need for new rules emerged following amendments to the California Air Resources Board's (CARB) Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth Regulation, requiring tankers to have emission control strategies in place at specific ports from January 2025. As a response to these regulatory changes, DNV, on behalf of the Western States Petroleum Association, conducted a comprehensive assessment…

European lawmakers agreed on Tuesday to include international carbon emissions from the maritime sector in the EU carbon market, targeting an industry that does not yet pay for its pollution.They also called for binding targets for shipping companies to reduce the annual average CO2 emissions of all ships when in operation, by at least 40% by 2030 compared to 2018 levels, going further than an original European Commission proposal.Pollution from ships plying international waters usually escapes countries’ domestic emissions-cutting targets…

Open to all OMSA Members, the Committee Seeks to Further the Domestic Offshore Wind Industry and the Jones Act.New Orleans, LA – Today, the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) announced the formation of the OMSA Wind Committee and announced that membership on the Committee is now open to all OMSA members.OMSA President, Aaron Smith said, “Over the past 46 years, OMSA has done a tremendous job in promoting public policy that benefits the vessels, operators, and mariners engaged in the offshore oil and gas industry.

The European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) organised a workshop on the practical implementation of measures to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions, attended by representatives of the European Commission, the European Maritime Safety Agency, the Member States, as well as industry stakeholders and environmental organisations.The focus was on the opportunities and challenges of reducing the shipping industry’s carbon footprint. The speakers presented concrete initiatives in alternative propulsion technology, such as sails, hydrogen or methanol, and improving the energy efficiency of existing ships.Moreover, participants also discussed the current limitations of available abatement technologies…

The international shipping community has made little progress to advance the global  commitment made earlier this year to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions."This is despite impassioned pleas for action by climate scientists to the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) environment committee last month," said Transport & Environment (T&E).The leading NGO campaigning for cleaner transport in Europe said that some IMO delegates soon ‘would not have a country to land on’ due to global warming if this pace of activity continues."Shipping is one of the few sectors of the global economy not to have an obligatory climate emissions reduction target, despite being responsible for 3% of global CO2 emissions.

INTERCARGO expresses its full support and total alignment with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim’s concerns that including shipping in the European Union’s Emission Trading System (EU-ETS) could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships on a global basis. These concerns were raised following an agreement on 16 December 2016 by the European Parliament's Environment Committee that emissions from ships should be included in EU-ETS from 2023, if IMO does not deliver a further global measure to reduce GHG emissions for international shipping by 2021. IMO has already approved a responsible roadmap for developing a comprehensive strategy on reducing GHG emissions from ships, through to a 2023 horizon.

INTERCARGO expressed its full support and total alignment with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim’s concerns that including shipping in the European Union’s Emission Trading System (EU-ETS) could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships on a global basis. These concerns were raised following an agreement on 16 December 2016 by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee that emissions from ships should be included in EU-ETS from 2023, if IMO does not deliver a further global measure to reduce GHG emissions for international shipping by 2021. IMO has already approved a responsible roadmap for developing a comprehensive strategy on reducing GHG emissions from ships, through to a 2023 horizon.

International Maritime Organization (IMO)  Secretary-General Kitack Lim has written to senior European officials expressing his concern that including shipping in the European Union’s Emission Trading System (EU-ETS) could undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping on a global basis. In a letter to Martin Schulz (President of the European Parliament), Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission) and Donald Tusk (President of the European Council), Lim acknowledged that the EU had an ambitious policy for addressing emissions and recognised that Member States might wish to enhance the progress made to date. However, he cautioned against extending the EU-ETS to include ships.

The global trade association for shipowners, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), says that a unilateral decision by the European Union to incorporate international shipping into its regional Emissions Trading System (ETS) will polarise and impede current discussions on additional CO2 reduction measures at the UN International Maritime Organization (IMO). “Non-EU nations will be disappointed and very concerned by yesterday's vote in the European Parliament Environment Committee following IMO's adoption just a few weeks ago of a comprehensive road map for action,” said ICS Director of Policy and External Relations, Simon Bennett.

Growth in emissions from shipping and aviation will undo nearly half (43%) of the savings expected to be made by the rest of transport in Europe through to 2030, a new independent study has found. It means that almost half of the already-inadequate emissions savings expected in land transport will be cancelled out by ships and planes, according to the report commissioned by sustainable group Transport & Environment (T&E). Bill Hemmings, aviation and shipping director at T&E, said: “Planes and ships are free riding at the expense of land transport’s already insufficient efforts to cut emissions. This is not only unfair but a roadblock to Europe meeting its own climate commitments.

As the world moves to slash CO2 emissions, the shipping and aviation sectors have managed to remain on the sidelines. But the pressure is now on these two major polluting industries to start controlling their emissions at last - a report by Yale University. International aviation and shipping emissions were excluded from the Paris pact, which introduced limits on greenhouse gas emissions for all nations starting in 2020. With power generation, manufacturing, domestic transport, deforestation, and even changes in land use all now constrained, calls are growing for these two big sectors to be tamed as well. Aviation and shipping each emit roughly the same volume of CO2 annually as the U.K.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has welcomed progress made by the IMO Marine Environment Committee (MEPC) this week (April 18-22) towards the adoption of a global CO2 data collection system. Once the amendment to the MARPOL Convention enters in force, all ships over 5,000 GT will be required to provide information on CO2 emissions via their flag states. ICS says that once the system is adopted, IMO Member States will be in a better position to consider the development of additional CO2 reduction measures and respond to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has made a number of submissions to a critical meeting of the IMO Marine Environment Committee (MEPC) which begins in London next week (18-22 April). These address further measures to reduce the sector’s CO2 emissions, outstanding problems with the implementation of the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, and the need for an immediate IMO decision on whether or not ships will have to use 0.5% sulphur fuel in 2020. ICS says its immediate priority is to help ensure that the new global CO2 data collection system is adopted by IMO as soon as possible. This will then facilitate the possible development of additional CO2 reduction measures.

The Paris climate agreement’s target of limiting global warming well below 2°C will be impossible without measures to curb shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions, MEPs told industry representatives last week. Including shipping CO2 in the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) or having the sector contribute to a climate compensation fund were the options on the table, they said. MEPs from four political groups – the conservatives (EPP), the socialists (S&D), the liberals (ALDE) and the left-wing GUE – said the revision of the EU ETS, currently underway, needs to include shipping emissions in the EU 2030 climate target and contribute to meeting the Paris limits. Shipping is the only sector of the European economy not covered by the EU’s existing emissions reduction target.

The groups representing European Parliament's (EP) environment committee are urging European leaders to include international shipping in the global climate deal scheduled to be signed in Paris in December. The 28 EU member states meet on 18 September to finalise their position for The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference (COP 21) to be held in Paris in December. The heads of 7 of the 8 political groups of the EP's committee has written  to the Environment Ministers of the 28 EU countries urging them to include shipping. In the letter they noted that international shipping and aviation already accounted for 8% of global greenhouse gas and emissions from shipping were expected to grow by 50 – 250% by 2050.

The Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC) is calling on ship owners and stakeholders gathering in Brussels for European Shipping Week to support an industry carbon emissions reduction target. The CSC, the global NGO coalition campaigning for cleaner shipping, said in a press release that as the only remaining major economic sphere yet to tackle its carbon emissions, shipping must act urgently to do their part to keep the global temperature increase below 2 degrees. Last year’s third…

Data showing the heating of Earth in 2104 to the highest level on record will do little to stop Republicans in the U.S. Congress from fighting President Barack Obama's use of executive powers to slow climate change. Republicans, who won control of the Senate in November's elections, campaigned on dismantling Obama's plans to slow the country's emissions. More broadly, they plan to target Obama's recent pledge of $3 billion to a global climate fund that led some to hope the world would reach an agreement to fight global warming in Paris next year. After two U.S. agencies released new climate reports on Friday, the Senate's leading global warming skeptic said human activity was not leading the planet to the brink of devastation.

Following the three collision incidents[1] resulting in oil spills which took place in the Singapore port waters and Singapore Strait between January 29 and February 10 early this year, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) conducted investigations to determine the causes of the incidents. MPA also formed a Safety Review Committee (SRC) to review the overall system of navigational safety in Singapore's port waters and Singapore Strait. Members comprised experts from MPA, Ministry of Transport, the local academia and shipping industry.

The Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) and The American Waterways Operators (AWO) expressed their support of the bipartisan process to move a long overdue Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). House efforts, led by House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), along with Ranking Member Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), as well as Water Resources and Environment Committee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-OH) and Ranking Member Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY), culminated in this week’s introduction of H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform Development Act (WRRDA). WCI and AWO are urging the inclusion of provisions in H.R. 1149, the WAVE 4 Act…

The UK Chamber of Shipping's new Chief Executive, due to start in January 2014, will be Guy Platten, currently Chief Executive of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL). Guy Platten is a master mariner with a long background in the marine industry – including serving as a deck officer in the Merchant Navy, an Inspector of Lifeboats for the RNLI, Salvage and Mooring Officer with the Ministry of Defence and as Director of Marine Operations with the Northern Lighthouse Board. In his role as Chief Executive of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd…

Shipping Fuel Transparency Will Lower Emissions and Cut Costs. NGOs call on shipping industry regulator to drive down costs, trigger improved fuel efficiency and reduce ship GHG emissions through efficiency data transparency. Transport & Environment, Seas at Risk and Carbon War Room are urging the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) not to withhold data on ship efficiency and fuel consumption. The call for action follows moves by some industry groups to undermine initiatives…

For northern communities and economies, the expected growth of Arctic shipping has the potential to bring new jobs and industries, lower cost of living, and new infrastructure and investment. But with these exciting opportunities come certain risks that must be managed. This week, a draft international agreement — the Polar Code — was reached for new shipping regulations in the Arctic at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s environment committee. For the first time, binding rules for ship operations will be in place. This is welcome news as ice melts and development pressures ratchet up in the Arctic. It is encouraging…