The IMO working group meeting of governments on GHG reduction (ISWG—GHG 10) met this week in advance of the next meeting of the IMO Marine Environment  Protection Committee which meets in the week of 22 November.

Simon Bennett, deputy secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), who was present at the meeting, commented:

“We welcome the progress made by governments at the IMO, ahead of COP 26, to begin in earnest the process of setting a realistic carbon price for international shipping and developing a market based measure to expedite the transition to net zero emissions.

“This IMO meeting was an important first step by governments to better understand how carbon pricing might apply to shipping within a global regulatory framework, and there was general recognition that a piecemeal patchwork of regional or national measures won’t work.

“ICS is pleased that governments have now started their detailed consideration of current proposals, including the comprehensive proposal for a global carbon levy that ICS (and INTERCARGO) put forward to the IMO last month, which has much in common with a similar proposal from Pacific Island States.

“Based on the good start made this week, ICS is optimistic that an MBM can be taken forward by IMO while addressing the legitimate concerns among developing countries about the potential economic impacts.

“The next important step will be for proponents of different mechanisms to submit assessments of the likely impacts on the cost of maritime trade. ICS intends to get to work on this right away to demonstrate how a carbon levy can be equitably introduced for shipping, and help governments to settle on a realistic initial quantum which will speed up the transition to zero-carbon shipping while avoiding any disproportionately negative consequences.”