The UK Chamber of Shipping’s Communications Director, Jonathan Roberts, is talking to BBC with respect to the ongoing efforts currently discussed at IMO MEPC 72 to reduce the shipping industry’s environmental footprint. Mr. Roberts noted that crucially any agreement reached within IMO this week will be a stepping stone in the global shipping decarbonisation deal.
Calling for an ‘ambitious’ global agreement to minimize carbon emissions from shipping, Mr. Roberts also warns that a change into how the industry works is going to be difficult. The maritime has made huge steps in the last years, with investments to battery-powered vessels, hydrodynamics and improvement of engine designs, but there is still a long way to go.
We have to go further, we have to go faster. Climate change is real. We have responsibility to play our part.
The Chamber recently said in an official statement:
It is widely considered to be vital that a global strategy is necessary to ensure a ‘level playing field’ for companies operating in all regions of the world. The aim is for the industry to pay its fair share and decarbonise in line with the Paris Agreement, while ensuring that international operators remain on an equal competitive footing.
