Countdown to MEPC 80: Working group to consider global GHG Fuel Standard next week

Several IMO members are advocating for a GHG Fuel Standard (GFS) as a mid-term measure to reduce the shipping sector's emissions in line with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement.

PHOTO: Getty Images

The GFS was first suggested by the European Commission (EC) in its proposal to the IMO in March last year.

According to EC, the GFS will require all vessels over a certain size - either 400 gross tonnage (GT) or 5,000 GT - to use fuels with a well-to-wake (WtW) greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity below a predetermined threshold.

The qualifying vessels would have to increase their low- and zero-emission fuel uptake “either continuously or on average over a compliance period” to meet the regulatory limit, added the EC. “An ambitious GFS sets a technical requirement ensuring that ships demand low- and zero-GHG fuels, which is a prerequisite for investments in fuel production and bunkering infrastructure, as well as in the fleet itself.”

The EC recommends implementing the measure from 2025 and to mandate a gradual reduction in the fuel's GHG intensity towards 2050.

Calling it a goal-based mid-term measure, the EC argues that “the only limit it would set is on the average Well-to-Wake GHG intensity of the fuel and energy used on-board ships on a yearly basis.”

In its 12th session, the Intersessional Working Group on the Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships (ISWG-GHG 12) agreed to "advance towards" developing this technical standard. A host of IMO member states including the US, EU countries and African countries are pushing for it to be adopted by the IMO.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has submitted a proposal for discussion at next week's ISWG-GHG's 15th session in which it backs a GFS that would reduce the GHG intensity of fuels consumed by 5% by 2030. ICS says the GFS needs to be tightened aggressively beyond 2030, and that it needs to be "supported by an economic measure that will incentivize the production and uptake of the low- and zero-GHG fuels."

By Konica Bhatt

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