IMO Chief Calls for Undivided Commitment on Climate Change

Seatrade Insider
September 25, 2009

Now is the time to make tough decisions to address climate change, and to act with total and undivided commitment, said Efthimios Mitropoulos, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, during his World Maritime Day remarks.

World Maritime Day is the annual occasion when IMO highlights a key issue for the organization and the shipping industry. This year's theme is ‘Climate change: a challenge for IMO too!'

Speaking today in London, Mitropoulos said IMO is ‘heavily and consistently engaged in the fight to protect and preserve our environment - both marine and atmospheric.' Having achieved what he described as a breakthrough in reducing air pollution from ships in 2008, IMO now is ‘energetically pursuing the limitation and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping operations,' he said.

‘Our work on this hugely important subject stems from the genuine concerns for the environment of our Member States and the industry organizations that help us make balanced decisions in the pursuit of the organization's objectives - not to mention those entrusted to us under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, which specifically provide that the limitation or reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases from ships should be pursued through IMO,' Mitropoulos noted.

He highlighted the work done to address greenhouse gas emissions to date, including the development of an Energy Efficiency Design Index for new ships, a Ship Energy Management Plan for all ships and an Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator. IMO will tell about these measures and deliver a progress report on discussions held on potential market-based mechanisms to the UNFCCC Conference in Copenhagen in December.

Aside from the regulatory arena, IMO's focus and responsibility, the shipping industry has made considerable progress in addressing energy efficiency, Mitropoulos said. He cited a range of technologies that can reduce emissions from new ships by 15% to 25% per ton/mile, propulsion systems and propeller designs that can reduce fuel consumption by approximately 10% and improvements in hydrodynamics and vessel hull design that can cut fuel use by 2% to 4%.

The IMO chief said the solution to climate change cannot be laid at the door of any country or group of countries, nor any region or continent. Neither should it be pursued through only one or a few human activities.

‘The solutions we will opt for need to be realistic, pragmatic, workable, cost-effective and, above all, well-balanced, implemented through mechanisms that are clear, practical, transparent, fraud-free and easy to administer,' Mitropoulos said, adding that the solutions must be universally applied.