Following an ICS call earlier this week, a first-ever meeting of high-level maritime bodies agreed that more investment is needed from governments and shipping to develop the technologies for a greener industry.
As world leaders meet in Cornwall, England, for the G7, the first-ever meeting of the equivalent maritime bodies, titled M7, took place on Wednesday this week. Organized by the UK Chamber of Shipping, the virtual meeting gathered delegates from the shipowner associations of the G7, plus those from Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea, as well as the Secretary-General of ICS, Chief Executive and Secretary General of BIMCO and a representative from ECSA.
During the meeting, the parties agreed that more investment is needed from governments and industry to develop the technologies for a cleaner and greener shipping industry and that the G7 governments should be urged to back the shipping industry’s proposed $5bn R&D decarbonization fund.
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The call comes amid increased discussions on the need for a maritime decarbonization fund and as the IMO’s MEPC 76 started in London negotiating green challenges for the industry. On Wednesday, ICS warned that, without decisive government signals, declining levels of maritime research and development could jeopardize the shipping industry’s ability to decarbonize.
In this context, ICS has joined a recent proposal, along with governments and industry partners, for the 5 billion USD R&D fund for shipping to support the ‘de-risking of investments’ for advancing technology readiness levels.
Delegates at the M7 meeting also agreed that more work was needed to help develop digital documentation to facilitate an increase in global trade as the world recovers from Covid-19.
In addition, the meeting called for governments of the G7 to follow the lead of the US, Canada and other countries in prioritizing vaccinations for seafarers, to resolve the crew change crisis.
The meeting noted the magnificent job that their seafarers had been doing through the pandemic and urged governments to make vaccines available to seafarers. It also fully supported the need to decarbonise and agreed that if the industry is to meet its goal of zero carbon emissions by 2050, large-scale investment in research and development is necessary as without this we simply will not have the technologies needed for the greener, cleaner shipping industry that we all want,
…stated UK Chamber of Shipping President and Chair of the meeting, John Denholm.
