Zero Emissions Ships Technology Association (ZESTA) has outlined four required outcomes from the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 81) meeting.
CII needs to incentivise shipowners towards efficiency measures
There is widespread agreement that shipping can achieve 40% emissions reductions with known efficiencies alone. Efficiencies are the low hanging fruit and that is where we must focus efforts today. While we cannot take our eyes off the development and scaling of alternative fuels, we must focus efforts more deliberately on the scaling of available and proven technologies. With investment to drive innovation and influence policy, these market-ready technologies have the potential to reduce emissions even further.
IMO must commit to measuring N2O and methane
The 2023 IMO GHG Strategy must include measurement of N2O and methane.
Responsibility for emissions must stretch from cradle to grave
Responsibility for emissions must span the full lifecycle, from cradle to grave, to prevent the dumping of emissions which become “someone else’s problem”. Increases in dissolved CO2, much coming from ship exhausts and now scrubber wash water, have increased ocean acidification by 33% since 1850, rising at a rate not seen in millions of years. Ocean acidification is reducing oxygen levels, dissolving coral habitats, creating dead zones and killing plankton. More than 50% of marine life has died off since the 1950s, dying off at a rate of more than 1% per year. The acidity level is expected to reach pH 7.95 by 2045-2050, at which point carbonate-based lifeforms begin to dissolve and the food chain breaks down.
Revisit onboard continuous emissions monitoring (CEMS)
As informed, CEMS technology has evolved and represents the most accurate and fair way to measure vessel emissions. It should be reintroduced and made mandatory to ensure that owners and operators that properly maintain their engines should not be penalised for doing so. True emissions from vessels with the same engine, using the same fuel can be miles apart, depending on how an engine is maintained.
The simplest way to reduce emissions from shipping is onboard measurement per transport work. This will inevitably push ship owners toward efficiency measures and engine maintenance, both of which will obviously reduce emissions.
..Madadh MacLaine, Secretary General, Zero Emissions Ship Technology Association (consultative status at IMO) said.
