Leaders from the global shipping industry are taking action to align their businesses with what is needed to limit the worst impacts of climate change, according to those present at an executive-level event convened on the margins of Nor Shipping, reports Globe Newswire.
The event was convened ahead of July’s critical government negotiations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) when its main decision-making body, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) is expected to adopt the draft 2023 IMO Strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships.
Science-based Target Initiative
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping is crucial to tackling climate change. Maritime transport is currently responsible for approximately 3% of global emissions, but its emissions are projected to grow by up to 30% by 2050.
Last November, the Science-based Target Initiative (SBTi) released the world’s first framework for companies in the maritime sector to set near- and long-term science-based targets in line with 1.5°C. It shows that alignment with 1.5°C can be met by private sector corporations if they adopt strategies to achieve decarbonisation by the first half of the 2040s. Shipping companies have already committed to set climate targets with the Science-based Target Initiative (SBTi) across their operations and value chains aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and reaching net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director, UN Global Compact, a founding member of the SBTi said: “Companies in the shipping sector are already setting targets with SBTi to support their transition plans and go beyond existing regulation to align with the 1.5 C temperature goal. We need to see more of them incorporating the SBTi maritime guidance this September at the Climate Ambition Summit hosted by the UN Secretary-General. Governments must now match private sector ambition by working with the International Maritime Organization to align on an ambitious decarbonization goal of total zero emissions by 2050 with targets of a 37% reduction in 2030 and 96% reduction in 2040 in order to align to the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.”
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Source: Globe Newswire
