Pressure on IMO Member States to agree to a GFS

After the International Maritime Organization (IMO) member states failed to reach agreement on a draft legal text during this week’s two-day meeting, a text that would have been due for approval during next week’s MEPC 83, the Clean Shipping Coalition urged governments to commit to a fuel standard and greenhouse gas pricing mechanism, a levy, for the shipping industry that would lower emission reductions.

Negotiations are expected to continue this week and into next week’s meeting. 

There has never been more pressure on IMO member states to agree to a fuel standard and GHG pricing mechanism that will sufficiently drive GHG emission reductions and ensure a just and equitable maritime energy transition.

…said Delaine McCullough, Ocean Conservancy’s Shipping Emissions Policy Manager and President, Clean Shipping Coalition.

McCullough stated that there is still a strong call from Pacific, African, and Caribbean countries for a levy – a high, flat GHG price, on all emissions from ships combined with an ambitious fuel standard, but it must hold through these coming days of debate.

Furthermore, McCullough pointed out that at the same time, the negotiations that began on 2 April on the strengthening of the IMO’s energy efficiency measure, the Carbon Intensity Indicator, are even more critical than ever.

Improved energy efficiency is the key to immediate and ongoing emission reductions–it’s shipping decarbonization’s superpower–so the CII must be up to the task.

…said elaine McCullough.

• ISWG-GHG-19 (Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions), ran from March 31- April 11, and focused on reaching agreement on a global fuel standard and greenhouse gas levy.
• Starting April 2nd, three-day ISWG-APEE 1 (Intersessional Working Group on Air Pollution and Energy Efficiency) aims to revise and improve the functioning of the IMO’s carbon intensity indicator (CII).
• Next week’s MEPC 83 (April 7-11) – the IMO’s Marine Environment Protect Committee – is scheduled to approve legal text on each of the three. What they approve during MEPC 83 will then be adopted (the final stage) at an extraordinary session of MEPC in October 2025.