Industry calls on UN to develop MBMs

MBMs put a price on CO2 emissions, encouraging a sector to reduce its emissions by narrowing the gap between fossil fuels and zero-carbon fuels. Shipping leaders believe that now is the time to consider the role of MBMs to help the sector meet its aim of eliminating the 2% of global emissions that it produces.

“Fair and equitable MBMs are a viable policy option to transition to the new fuels and technologies that will be necessary to phase-out greenhouse gas emissions in the sector,” state the industry bodies in their submission to the UN.

For a pricing signal to work, there must be viable alternatives to fossil fuels, which do not yet exist for larger ships. Development of alternative technologies would be enabled by an increase in IMO co-ordinated R&D so that ocean-going ships will be able to switch to new fuels.

To this end member states and industry have already put forward a proposal to create a US$5 billion fund and the industry is encouraging the world’s largest economies to expand research and development efforts.