G7 nations pledge 2050 target for net-zero shipping emissions

The G7 coalition will present their interim targets for 2030 and 2040 at the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) meeting in July.

PHOTO: The Group of Seven (G7) alliance includes (L-R) Germany, France, Canada, the US, the UK, Japan and Italy. Getty Images

The IMO, which is helping steer global shipping through the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction route, may perhaps up the ante on freighting decarbonisation when it meets in July.

Mindful of the global shipping industry's bearing on climate change, the Group of Seven (G7) nations are asking the maritime regulator to do more. The G7 nations include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, with the EU as a "non-enumerated member"

G7 ministers, who met in Japan over the weekend, now want the regulator to adopt a tougher stand on fighting emissions. The group wants shipping to achieve "zero" GHG emissions by 2050.

Meanwhile, the IMO’s initial GHG strategy aims to halve maritime emissions by 2050. The maritime regulator is expected to revise this target at the 80th Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting that is scheduled in July this year.

Intermediate targets

G7 members agreed to adopt "mid-term measures" by 2025 to accelerate progress towards "intermediate targets" for shipping decarbonisation, according to the joint ministerial statement released after the meeting. These measures would focus on regulations and incentives for the deployment of "zero-emission" ships.

The coalition is expected to reveal these targets and measures at the MEPC80.

The G7 also committed to establish at least 14 green shipping corridors by the middle of this decade, with more to follow. Green corridors would promote zero- and low-emission vessels and fuels and warrant the development of zero-emission ports, it said.

By Konica Bhatt

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