Countries agree to slash shipping emissions but not enough to stay within warming limits
Maritime nations agreed Friday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by about 2050 in a deal that many experts and some nations say falls well short of what’s needed to curb warming to agreed temperature limits
Maritime nations agreed Friday to slash emissions from the shipping industry to net zero by about 2050 in a deal that several experts and nations say falls short of what's needed to curb warming to agreed temperature limits.
Countries at the meeting of the United Nations' International Maritime Organization in London, seen as key to curb global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, signed a deal for shipping emissions to reach net zero “by or around” 2050. The less firm deadline was agreed to take account of “different national circumstances.”
The plan also calls for shipping emissions to be slashed by at least 20% but aiming for 30% by 2030 and at least 70% but working toward 80% by 2040 despite a push from Pacific nations — backed by Canada, the United States and the U.K. — for more ambitious targets. Experts calculate the industry must cut its emissions by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to keep on track with 1.5 C temperature goal.
IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said Friday the deal “is in many ways a starting point for the work that needs to intensify even more over the years and decades ahead of us.”
“With the revised strategy that you have now agreed on, we have a clear direction, a common vision, and ambitious targets to guide us to deliver what the world expects from us,” Lim said to member states.
The German government welcomed the agreement, calling it “an important milestone for ensuring that international shipping makes a fair
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