The US is committing to work with countries in the IMO to adopt a goal of achieving zero emissions from international shipping by 2050, US President John Biden confirmed during a climate summit last week.
Earlier in April, a call by US climate envoy John Kerry to IMO for a zero-emissions shipping industry by 2050 made headlines, as it puts increasing pressure on IMO to boost shipping decarbonization goals, which currently eye emission reduction of at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008 levels.
Last week, Biden held a historic summit on climate with 40 world leaders, where he announced the United States will target reducing emissions by 50-52% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
Among others, the President said the US is committing to work with countries in the IMO to adopt a goal of achieving zero emissions from international shipping by 2050 and to adopt ambitious measures that will place the sector on a pathway to achieve this goal.
The announcement confirms the previous call by the US climate envoy and comes in support of the global effort to keep within reach a 1.5 degree C limit on global average temperature increase.
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In addition, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced plans to quadruple clean energy innovation funding over the next four years. In this context, the US will join a hydrogen mission under Mission Innovation 2.0 and will co-lead with Denmark a mission to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in international shipping. Both missions are expected to launch at the June 2021 Mission Innovation ministerial.
The international shipping sector contributes approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the sector’s emissions are only projected to increase.
Last week, a new report by Ocean Conservancy and Pacific Environment detailed how the US can completely eliminate emissions from the shipping industry in the next 15 years. The policy should require progressive cuts in CO2 equivalents (CO2e) — 50% by 2025, 80% by 2030, and 100% by 2035. That would prevent 213 million metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere by 2035 and every year thereafter.
The report also highlights that the US can only reach its goal of zero-emission shipping with zero-emission fuels, with the best options being green hydrogen, green ammonia, fuel cells, batteries, and wind. The solutions not recommended are LNG, methanol, biofuels, nuclear and solar.