Shipping and CO2

Delivering CO₂ Emission Reductions: International Shipping is Part of the Solution (COP21)

Maritime trade is a driver for green growth and is already by far the most carbon efficient mode of commercial transport. But the shipping industry is committed to delivering further dramatic CO₂ reductions. In advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21), this brochure highlights dramatic progress already made by the international shipping industry in reducing its emissions and outlines the industry's commitment to further reductions going forward. 

Shipping, World Trade and the Reduction of CO₂ Emissions

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is leading the representation of shipowners in the current negotiations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with regard to achieving the best and most effective means of further reducing the shipping industry’s emissions of CO₂.

International shipping is already, by far, the most carbon efficient mode of commercial transport – some 30 times more efficient than cargo aviation. However, the shipping industry fully accepts that the CO₂ emission reduction which ships must aim to achieve should be at least as ambitious as the CO₂ emission reduction agreed under any new United Nations Climate Change Convention.