Sustainable Targets For Shipping  as 90% of World’s Trade Goes by Sea

Sustainabile Shipping Initiative came to Singapore on its
way to becoming a global movement with the support of 15 major players in the
shipping industry -  with Carnival the
only cruise company to sign up – along with Forum of the Future and WWF.  Meanwhile, the International Chamber of
Shipping (ICS) – which represents all sectors and trades of the global shipping
industry and more than 80% of the world merchant fleet – has produced a
briefing document for government climate change
negotiators attending the Durban conference.

Ken Hickson reports on the Singapore launch on the
Sustainable Shipping Initiative:

Launched in Singapore 23 November  after its London launch four weeks earlier,
the Sustainabile Shipping Initiative is going global with the support of 15 major
players in the shipping industry, along with Forum of the Future and WWF.

Those of us who attend the Singare launch heard Sir Jonathn
Porrit give an overview of the initiative from its beginnigs and its progress
to date. He told us why sustainability is an imperative for the shipping
industry and how the industry is getting involved in making it a reality. He
also set out the Vision for a Sustainable Shipping Industry in 2040 and why the
Sustainable Shipping Initiative is needed now and what companies can do to
ensure success.

Also speaking at the Singapore launch was Kim Kyung Soo,
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of IMC Industrial Group and Tim Blackburn,
Managing Director of The China Navigation Co, a member of the Swire group of
companies. They talked about what the SSI Vision and collaborative group mean
to them.

Shipping affects the lives of billions of people, with 90%
of the world’s international trade travelling by sea. The industry accounts for
three to four percent of global CO2 emissions and there is growing scrutiny of
its wider social and environmental impacts.

The industry now faces a range of social and environmental
challenges, such as rising and volatile fuel prices, shifting markets and
patterns of trade,and changing governance structures, which are explored in the
Case for Action.

Many key players in the industry are aware of these factors,
but, unlike the aviation and auto sectors, have not yet acted decisively to
prepare shipping for this new world. Shipping has a compelling case as the most
energy-efficient freight service, but any return to growth will be
unsustainable if the industry does not innovate to cut costs and reduce its
environmental impacts.

The Sustainable Shipping Initiative is designed to help the
industry make long-term plans for future success. An industry with long-lived
assets needs long-term thinking, and the SSI aims to help members think beyond
the next regulation or design tweak.

Founding members of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative are:

ABN-AMRO, BP Shipping, BUNGE, Cargill, Carnoval Corporation,
China Navigation/Swire, DSME, Gearbulk, Lloyd’s register, Maersk Line, Rio
Tinto, RSA, Tsakos Energy Navigation, Wartsila and Unilever.

Source: www.forumforthefuture.org

Carnival backs sustainable shipping initiative

Travel Weekly (1 November 2011):

Carnival Corporation is the only cruise company to sign up
to an initiative co-ordinated by Forum for the Future to map out a sustainable
future for international shipping.

Seventeen global companies, including freight lines and
marine insurers, are backing the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) designed
to lay out a ‘vision for 2040’ for the industry.

The SSI is to address three principal challenges identified
as facing the industry: rising oil prices, structural shifts in world trade and
growing scrutiny of the industry’s social and environmental performance.

Five key objectives identified include diversifying the
international shipping industry’s energy mix. They aim for greater efficiency,
“dramatic reductions” in greenhouse gases and to ensure responsible governance
of the oceans.

The Initiative’s 17 members claim to have a combined market
value of half a trillion dollars.

Jonathon Porritt, founder director of non-profit
organisation Forum for the Future, described shipping as having reached a
“crossroads”.

He said: “After years of focusing on a commodity-focused
‘boom and bust’ business model, leaders in the industry have aligned to ask
more of themselves – emphasising the urgent need to take the lead in reshaping
the entire industry ahead of regulation.”

David Dingle, chief executive of Carnival’s British arm
Carnival UK, said: “From Carnival’s perspective the Sustainable Shipping
Initiative should support an expanding, well-rewarded and supported workforce
and network of suppliers and to enhance significantly the economies and
services of the communities its ships visit.

“From an industry perspective it will ensure that future
growth across the shipping industry is maintained economically, socially and
environmentally.

“It is a tough challenge but one to which we are fully
committed.”

Source: www.travelweekly.co.uk

Maritime Reporter and Engineering News (15 November 2011):

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) – which
represents all sectors and trades of the global shipping industry and more than
80% of the world merchant fleet – has produced a briefing document for
government climate change  negotiators,
in advance of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 17).   The Document entitled ‘Shipping, World Trade
and the Reduction of CO2 Emissions’ is being distributed via ICS member
national shipowners’ associations and can be downloaded at www.ics-shipping.org/CO2lowres.pdf

ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe explained: “The
international shipping industry is firmly committed to reducing its CO2
emissions by twenty per cent by 2020, with significant further reductions
thereafter. However, the Durban Climate Change Conference needs to give the
International Maritime Organization a clear mandate to continue its vital work
to help us deliver further emission reductions through the development of
Market Based Measures.”

The shipping industry hopes that governments at COP 17 will
respond positively to the significant IMO agreement, in July 2011, to adopt a
package of technical measures to reduce shipping’s CO2 emissions – which by
2030 should reduce  ships’ emissions by
25-30% compared to ‘business as usual’. This is the first ever international
agreement containing binding and mandatory measures to reduce CO2 emissions
that has so far been agreed for an entire industrial sector.

Most importantly– and without prejudice to what governments
might agree at UNFCCC – the shipping industry believes that IMO is now very
well placed to continue the real progress it is making on Market Based Measures
to help deliver  further emissions
reductions. This includes a possible shipping industry environmental
compensation fund – with possible linkages to any ‘Green Fund’ agreed by
UNFCCC. This could address the Kyoto Protocol principle of ‘Common But  Differentiated Responsibility’ (CBDR) by
directing the lion’s share of any funds raised from international shipping to
environment related projects in developing countries, including climate change
mitigation and adaptation.

The shipping industry wishes governments to understand that
in the absence of a global framework agreed by IMO there is a serious risk of
regional or unilateral measures attempting to regulate CO2 emissions for
shipping. This would have  a seriously
distorting effect on international shipping markets, but would also be much
less effective in delivering meaningful reductions in CO2 emissions by the
global shipping sector as a whole. The ICS Document explains why shipping is a
global industry requiring global regulation, and contains details of the
measures that the industry and its international regulator (IMO) are taking to
reduce ship emissions; means by which IMO
might take account of the UNFCCC CBDR principle; and the reasons why
shipping does not lend itself to inclusion in national CO2 emissions targets.

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