Countries, organizations, companies and communities hailed the agreement to reduce emissions reached by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The maritime world reacted positively to the news that emanated from the meetings that took place in London and culminated on April 16th, in which an IMO agreement was reached to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Countries of the European Union, together with the Marshall Islands - the second largest ship registry in the world - supported the goal of cutting emissions between 70 and 100% by 2050, compared to 2008 levels. “The shipping sector must contribute its fair share to the goals of the Paris Agreement,” said EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc and her colleague in charge of Energy and Climate Action, Miguel Arias Cañete, about the IMO agreement. The European Community Shipowners Associations (ECSA) called the IMO agreement “an important step forward” in the effort to reduce polluting emissions in the maritime industry. “This is a very important signal for the shipping industry and the maritime cluster to work at full speed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The ship is launched on a journey towards a solid and sustainable future for the shipping industry and the world”, said Panos Laskaridis, president of ECSA. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) valued the IMO agreement as innovator: “A Paris agreement for shipping, which sets a very high level of ambition for the future reduction of CO2 emissions. We are confident that this will give the shipping industry the clear signal that it needs to continue the work of developing zero CO2 fuels so that the entire sector is in a position to fully decarbonize”, said ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe. Lars Robert Pedersen, deputy general secretary of the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), said the board he represents sees the goal possible: “At BIMCO we trust that the industry can achieve these goals, even if we do not know exactly how”. Pedersen praised the IMO agreement, ensuring that the IMO did something never done before, “set an absolute goal for emissions reduction for a complete industry. It is a historic achievement in the effort to reduce emissions”, said the assistant general secretary of BIMCO, the worlds largest shipping association. The World Shipping Council (WSC), for its part, received the IMO agreement in a positive way and said that it is an ambitious strategy to reduce the emission of gases within the maritime industry. John Butler, president of the group, acknowledged the shipping industry faces a difficult challenge after the IMO agreement and gave his opinion on the steps to follow for the IMO: “There are no quick solutions here, but we can solve this problem. To do this we need to establish a maritime research and development effort that delivers the tools necessary to transform the industry. That is the next step for IMO”. With information from: https://portalportuario.cl/international-chamber-of-shipping-valora-acuerdo-sobre-reduccion-de-emisiones-contaminantes/ https://portalportuario.cl/armadores-europeos-consideran-una-senal-muy-importante-acuerdo-para-reducir-emisiones/ https://www.ajot.com/news/the-world-shipping-council-welcomes-the-imos-agreement-on-a-greenhouse-gas-reduction-strategy https://steelguru.com/logistic/bimco-applauds-new-imo-emissions-strategy/507073 https://www.euractiv.com/section/transport/news/brussels-hails-un-deal-to-halve-shipping-emissions-by-2050/
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