How credible is sustainable shipping?

The catalyst for the opening conversation of London International Shipping Week was the ‘game-changing’ IMO MEPC 80 meeting which set (admittedly loose) targets for decarbonisation with equally non-specific way markers. Generously viewed as a multi-lateral compromise there is nonetheless guarded optimism that the results provide clear enough direction to reinforce the sustainability business case for enough stakeholders in the industry.

Speaking at the ABS Low Carbon Outlook at LISW, CMA CGM’s Bud Darr remarked that “the people talking it down have no experience of decarbonising a shipping company or how diplomacy works.” In particular shipping’s carbon emissions by themselves don’t drive national policy positions, he said.

“They got the big ticket right. Yes 2050 is an arbitrary date but we’ve been saying it for two years. In between there are indicative benchmarks which are not bad guesses for pushing technology. It’s what you do between now and then that matters,” he said.

Chris Fee called MEPC80 ‘progressive’. “We were in limbo before, now we have a clear signal, the next step is to agree on lifecycle carbon factors and align them. That is another challenge to our way of thinking,” he said.

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