Esme Stallard
Report by climate and science
Costfoto / Nurphoto / Getty images
Countries have concluded a global agreement to combat shipping emissions after almost ten years of negotiations.
The agreement covers the vast majority of commercial shipments in the world and means that from 2028, ship owners will have to use increasingly clean fuels or cope with fines.
The agreement was almost derailed after Saudi Arabia forced a last -minute vote and the United States retired from talks in London – but it finally succeeded on Friday.
Small island states and environmental groups were angry that a general tax was not accepted and qualified the agreement “unfit for use”.
Shipping represents around 3% of global emissions. But unlike many other sectors, he has struggled to reduce his carbon footprint over the past decade and depends on fossil fuels such as diesel.
But the agreement means that it is now the first industry in the world with international objectives to reduce emissions.
The agreement was adopted at the meeting of the UN International Maritime Organization (OMI).
It will require owners of large international ships to increase their use of intensive carbon fuels or to face a penalty up to $ 380 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions which they emit fuel combustion.
Although the final agreement was adopted, it had to be submitted to a vote – an unusual decision for the United Nations organizations which generally suit consensus measures.
The vote was requested by Saudi Arabia, which did not support the agreement, and this position was shared by a dozen other oil producing countries, including Russia.
Although they opposed the proposal, they will be required to implement it because they are members of the IMI.
There have been measures to improve the efficiency of ships, but emissions have continued to increase in accordance with world trade – 90% of which are transported by ships.
The most effective measure would be to change the ships of fossil fuels with green fuels, but it would be very expensive.
“There is no fuel as inexpensive as diesel that ships use today because when we get out of crude soil oil, we delete all the beautiful pieces, it is kerosene for aviation, diesel and gasoline for cars,” said Faig Abstov, program director for maritime transport to transport and environmental environment.
“What remains at the bottom is what ships burn. So no fuel will be as cheap because little energy is in its production,” he said.
In comparison, the most environmentally friendly fuels such as e-knosene and ammonia are created from water atoms initially divided to obtain hydrogen, which is a very intensive and expensive process.
The figures vary depending on the type of fuel, but the World Economic Forum estimates that these green fuels are 3 to 4 times more expensive to produce.
“There is still a huge cost gap between fossil fuels and zero emission fuels and we have to fill this gap. So you need carrots and sticks and on expedition, the stick is not yet big to use lasting fuels,” said Refke Gunnewijk, program director for sustainable transport at the port of Rotterdam.
Reuters
Almost 90% of world goods are moved by the ship and the industry continues to grow according to commercial volumes
Some island states have also abstained and said that the agreement was a watered -down version of what they hoped for. A previous proposal aimed at applying a carbon coverage tax or sample – which would have been a world first – was abandoned.
“Let’s be clear about who abandoned 1.5 ° C
Their disappointment was shared by environmental groups.
“This week, OMI member states have wasted a golden opportunity for the world navigation sector to show the world how it can transform the trend of catastrophic climate heating, putting their own out -of -reach objectives,” said Delaine McCullough, president of the clean shipping coalition.
It is estimated that the agreement could achieve an 8% reduction in sector emissions by 2030, according to the UMA maritime council. It would be unless the objective of the OMI agreed agreed two years ago to reduce emissions by 20% by the end of the decade.
But China and Brazil had previously raised concerns that a direct debit could lead to a significant increase in prices for basic products such as food. The two countries supported the final agreement.
Jesse Fahnestock, director of decarbonization of the Maritime Forum global, said that the agreement was a compromise.
“It is a difficult set of decisions, but it is the first regulation of its kind and it is to be celebrated,” he said.
Fahnestock added that it was not clear if the penalties were sufficient to fill the cost gap between the types of fuel.
“You may have encouraged the shipowners to prepare a little for future fuels, but if the signal is strong enough to obtain the billions of dollars in investment in production facilities for these fuels-I do not think that these regulations will overcome this. I think that the more will be done,” he said.
All money collected by the penalties will be placed in a “zero” fund, with the money spent for the scaling of greener fuels and the support of developing countries.
It was this “redistribution” that prompted the American delegation to withdraw from talks on Tuesday evening. A letter has been sent by the United States to all countries during omit negotiations saying that any deduction would cause inflation and if it was adopted, “reciprocal measures” would be taken.
Although the US move has been in contradiction with its long -standing position at the IMI, it was in accordance with President Trump’s thrust on climate action seen in recent months – as the removal of the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
But industry and campaign delegates were not seemed not disrupted when they were addressed to the BBC on Wednesday and continued with negotiations.
The United States only reports 178 cargo cargo cargoes which represent 0.57% of the tonnage of global commercial shipment. So, if he has made the decision not to implement the new proposals, it is unlikely that he will make a significant difference for the funds collected.
Now the committee has agreed, it should be officially adopted in October.
