Amid an increasing pressure towards shipping decarbonization, the US climate envoy John Kerry called the IMO to guide the industry towards zero emissions by 2050.
The call for zero emissions by 2050 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.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the Ocean Conservancy, ahead of a climate leaders summit that US President Joe Biden will host this week, Kerry said the US will join the international effort to achieve zero emissions by 2050 and will help deploy the technologies needed, which he said are “known” but require investment to scale up.
I want to announce that in support of the global effort to keep us in reach of 1.5 degrees Celsius and in support of global efforts to achieve net-zero by no later than 2050, the US is committing to work with countries in the IMO to adopt the goal of achieving net-zero emissions from international shipping by no later than 2050,
…he noted.
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This follows a letter by EU and British officials to the US President in March, urging the US to include shipping emissions to be accounted for in the country’s forthcoming climate goal under the Paris agreement and that responsibility for all ship emissions be split between the country of origin and country of destination, according to Reuters.
The United States is expected to announce its new goal, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, by Wednesday ahead of the summit.
