The 82nd gathering of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) will kick off at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) where carbon levies will be high up on the agenda next week.
There have been more than 170 submissions made in the run-up to next week’s global green gathering in London, with a majority on greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency of ships.
Among the more eye-catching submissions is one from four NGOs pushing for a global ban on scrubbers, as well as encouraging national maritime administrations to ban the discharge of scrubber waste within their jurisdictional waters and to stop approving scrubbers as an alternative compliance method for ships registered under their flags.
The NGOs have called on the IMO to amend MARPOL Annex VI to include an explicit prohibition of scrubbers for new ships and to establish a timeline for phasing out scrubbers already installed on existing ships.
MEPC 82 is set to review the effectiveness of the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) rating and Energy Efficiency Index for Existing Ships (EEXI), two regulations that have attracted plenty of criticism since their introduction earlier this decade.
Marine litter and ballast water are also set to be discussed, but the topic likely to create the biggest stir will be on carbon levies.
In July 2023, the IMO set a series of non-binding targets for cutting emissions. The IMO is working on new rules in pursuit of its emissions goals: a phased reduction in the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of ship fuel, and the world’s first global, mandatory charge on GHG emissions, expected to come into force in 2027. However, significant opposition from a number of countries is expected to see nothing concrete come out of this year’s MEPC into the structure of a carbon levy, rolling the decision through to MEPC 83 next year.
Pushing hard for a global carbon levy, Seas At Risk, a Belgian NGO, has initiated an advertising campaign around London (pictured) including at bus stops near the headquarters of the IMO.
