Climate Action 2016-2017

TECHNOLOGY, TRANSPORT & URBANISATION
1); Guide for maritime energy-efficiency
strategy development (Guide 2); and Guide for
incorporation of MARPOL Annex VI into national
law (Guide 3).
A pool of experts, trained by the GloMEEP
project in the use of these guides, will contribute
significantly to the effective implementation
of the energy-efficiency requirements for
international shipping in their respective
countries. This, in turn, can serve as a model for
other countries.
Another exciting project being executed
by IMO is the ambitious €10 million IMO-
European Union Project on Capacity Building
for Climate Change Mitigation in the Maritime
Shipping Sector. This four-year project will
establish a global network of Maritime
Technology Cooperation Centres. The aim is
to help beneficiary countries limit and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from their shipping
sectors through technical assistance and
capacity-building. It will encourage the uptake
of innovative energy-efficiency technologies
among a large number of users through
the widespread dissemination of technical
information and know-how. This will heighten
the impact of technology transfer.
The four-year project will target five regions
– Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America
and the Pacific. These have been targeted for
their significant number of Least Developed
Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing
States (SIDS).
To date, 14 potential host institutions have
been shortlisted and work is under way to
select the five Maritime Technology Cooperation
Centres that will be supported financially to
carry out specific research and development
and analysis projects, including studies on data
collection relating to fuel efficiency of ships and
emissions in port areas.
NEXT STEPS
The output of the capacity-building projects will
undoubtedly help support IMO member states
as they move through the agreed three-step
process towards consideration of any further
global measures for international shipping for
climate change mitigation.
Governments at IMO’s Marine Environment
Protection Committee (MEPC) in April 2016
approved mandatory requirements for ships
to record and report their fuel consumption.
In simple terms, the system will require ships
of 5,000 gross tonnage and above to collect
consumption data for each type of fuel they
use. The aggregated data will be reported to
IMO by the flag state after the end of each
calendar year, and IMO will be required
"The reliability and
‘power density’ of a
marine diesel engine
means that the space on
board a ship is currently
optimised to carry cargo."
to produce an annual report to the MEPC,
summarising the data collected. Data would
be anonymised so individual ship data would
not be recognised.
The proposed IMO Ship Fuel Consumption
Database is the first in the agreed three-step
approach, in which analysis of the data collected
would provide the basis for an objective,
transparent and inclusive policy debate at IMO.
This would allow a decision to be made on
whether any further measures are needed to
enhance energy efficiency of ships and whether
identified further measures would effectively and
sufficiently address greenhouse gas emissions
from international shipping. If so, proposed policy
options would then be considered.
The draft mandatory data collection
requirements were set to be put forward for
formal adoption at the next MEPC session in
October 2016, and could enter into force as
early as 2018. Crucially, this will be a global
regime, applied universally to ships of 5,000
gross tonnage and above.
"Work is under way
to select the five
Maritime Technology
Cooperation Centres
that will be supported
financially to carry
out specific research
and development and
analysis projects."
IMO will always work on the basis that
international shipping needs global regulation.
This is set out in the Convention establishing
IMO, which makes clear the purpose of the
Organization is “to encourage the removal
of discriminatory action and unnecessary
restrictions by governments affecting shipping
engaged in international trade so as to promote
the availability of shipping services to the
commerce of the world without discrimination”.
It is important that IMO works with member
states and industry towards instilling a culture
that looks towards best practices in achieving
lower ship emissions. There is no doubt that
the Paris Agreement has placed increased
scrutiny on IMO’s work to address greenhouse
gas emissions from shipping and thereby
contribute to the global imperative to tackle
climate change. IMO is playing a major role
in ensuring that the spirit of the Agreement
is translated into appropriate, tangible and
lasting improvements in shipping, an industry
vital to world trade.
Kitack Lim is the Director-General of the
International Maritime Organization (IMO).
In 2006, Mr Lim was appointed as Maritime
Attaché, minister-counsellor at the Embassy
of the Republic of Korea in London and led all
IMO work for the Republic of Korea, serving
as Deputy Permanent Representative to IMO
up to August 2009. He was then appointed as
Director General for Maritime Safety Policy
Bureau at the Headquarters of the Ministry of
Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM).
He led the delegation of the Republic of
Korea to the IMO Assembly in 2009. In March
2011, He was appointed Commissioner of the
Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST).
In July 2012, he assumed the position of
President of Busan Port Authority.
The International Maritime Organization
(IMO, www.imo.org) is a specialised agency of
the United Nations, and the global standardsetting
authority for the safety, security and
environmental performance of international
shipping. Its main role is to create a
regulatory framework for the shipping
industry that is fair and effective, universally
adopted and universally implemented.
Shipping is a truly international industry,
and it can only operate effectively if the
regulations and standards are themselves
agreed, adopted and implemented on an
international basis. IMO is the forum at which
this process takes place.
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