almost 20% per cent<\/a>. Even though this will mean, in some cases, using additional ships, there are still large net emission reduction benefits. What\u2019s more, slowing ships down can happen immediately\u2014we don\u2019t need new technology just to take our foot off the gas pedal.\u00a0<\/p>\nWe must also look at wind power. In a case of \u201cback to the future,\u201d new high-tech sails can dramatically reduce fuel burn (and thus emissions) on existing ships, and can go even further when new ships are designed from scratch to use wind as their primary means of propulsion. No other transport mode can harness wind power directly in this way – it is shipping\u2019s climate crisis superpower.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most underwater noise pollution is caused by ship propellers, compromising the ability of whales and other marine life to forage and reproduce. Using sails and slowing ships down has a dramatic effect on noise levels, and slower ships are also less likely to strike and kill whales and other marine wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Any action that reduces the amount of fuel burned not only reduces climate emissions, but also cuts emissions of everything connected to burning fuel, including the particulates that are harmful to human health. The oily sludge that ship fuels generate, which sadly still often ends up being discharged illegally at sea, is also reduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reducing fuel burn also decreases the volume of toxic waste produced by the exhaust gas cleaning systems, known as scrubbers, that shipowners are installing to avoid using cleaner fuels. This shocking new waste stream is largely unregulated and dwarfs other shipping pollution in terms of volume.<\/p>\n
An outsider looking in could easily assume that ship owners would operate their vessels more efficiently purely out of self interest and a desire to minimise costs, but there are a number of factors working against this.<\/p>\n
For instance, there\u2019s industry\u2019s \u201csplit incentive\u201d – whereby the entity responsible for the technical efficiency of a ship and its equipment isn\u2019t always the one paying for the fuel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Inefficient ship operation is also often written into long-established conventions and contractual arrangements\u2014the most famous one being the instruction in charter agreements to travel at “utmost dispatch\u201d (quickly) and then wait at the destination if you get there too early. Slowing down and arriving on time would make more sense, and have a massive impact on climate emissions, but would also be a breach of the agreement.<\/p>\n
And in a booming market when few ships are without work, an individual owner acting from a business perspective might prefer to speed up and squeeze in an extra trip. Unfortunately, this is the worst approach from a climate, environment and ocean health point of view.<\/p>\n
It is rare that a single measure or regulation holds the potential to have such wide-ranging positive impacts on the climate and environmental footprint of an industry. The revision of the IMO\u2019s Carbon Intensity Indicator truly holds the possibility to set the shipping industry on a much more sustainable course.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next week\u2019s IMO meeting, which is set to discuss the shipping sector\u2019s impact on the global climate (Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships – ISWG-GHG 18) must agree on an ambitious set of new climate measures, including a global zero- and near-zero GHG fuel standard, along with a levy on ship emissions to drive emission reductions and ensure a just climate transition for international shipping.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, to keep the cost of the shipping energy transition down and see to it that emission cuts happen quickly enough to meet the IMO GHG strategy\u2019s 2030 and 2040 goals, these measures must be aligned with an ambitious, transparent and enforceable energy efficiency measure. To build a more ocean-friendly shipping industry, governments must close their ears to \u201cspecial pleading\u201d from industry and make sure both the fuel standard and levy align with the concurrent IMO\u2019s Carbon Intensity Indicator revision, ahead of April\u2019s Intersessional Working Group on Air Pollution and Energy Efficiency.<\/p>\n
John Maggs is a board member of the Clean Shipping Coalition and is the coalition\u2019s accredited representative at the International Maritime Organization.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t
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<\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why the IMO Must Tighten Rules On Shipping\u2019s Carbon Emissions \u00a0 The International shipping sector provides an outsized and growing contribution to the climate crisis. Slower, more efficient ships can help slash climate emissions, but this will not happen without ambitious regulation. Fortunately, the International Maritime Organization\u2019s (IMO) current revision of the rules around its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-4886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maritime-executive","tag-maritime-executive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}