ICS heads to Doha Climate Change Conference

At the event, ICS will report on progress being made by shipowners worldwide to reduce CO2 emissions, improve fuel efficiency and to tackle some thorny issues surrounding market based measures (MBMs).

A recent UNFCCC secretariat report on ‘climate financing’ suggested that the international shipping industry should make a substantial contribution of $100bn per year to the Green Climate Fund established at the 2011 conference in Durban last year.

But ICS points out that IMO regulations to reduce ships’ emissions, which enter into force in January 2013, is already enough to contend with and goes a long way to assist the industry meeting its commitment for a 20% efficiency improvement by 2020 and 50% improvement by 2050.

Simon Bennett, ICS director of external relations, said: “Some governments appear to be more interested in how much money can be raised from shipping, rather than the emissions reductions that this might deliver. Just because we lack a strong political constituency, we should not be treated as a cash cow. Governments must also avoid the possibility of modal shift. If excessive costs are added to shipping, there could be greater use of less carbon-efficient shore based transport modes which will generate additional CO2.”

ICS makes it clear that additional MBMs are controversial among shipowners and Mr Bennett added that most shipowners would rather see a mechanism linked to fuel consumption as opposed to emissions trading schemes or any other “damaging” measure.

To tackle the issues that will be addressed at the conference, ICS has produced a special brochure called Shipping, World Trade and the reduction of CO2 emissions