Norway Targets IMO to Halve Global Shipping Emissions by 2050

OSLO, April 5 (Reuters) – Global shipping should set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Norway’s government and shipowners’ association said on Thursday before talks by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London next week.

Norway’s fleet is worth about $45 billion, the fifth most valuable in the world behind Japan, Greece, China and the United States. Norway’s shipping includes offshore, gas, chemicals, car vessels, dry bulk, crude, crude products and containers.

The IMO, which says international shipping represents about 2.2 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions, will meet from April 9-13 to develop a strategy to combat climate change. Shipping was not included in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

“Emissions should be reduced by 50 percent towards 2050 compared to 2008,” Harald Solberg, head of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, told a joint news conference with Trade Minister Torbjoern Rooe Isaksen.

“In the same period demand will increase by maybe 60 percent, so in absolute terms it’s more than a half,” Solberg said.

“We need international rules … our base line is the same as the Norwegian Shipowners (to cut emissions by 50 percent towards 2050),” Isaksen told Reuters.

“We hope the IMO will agree on these ambitious emission targets. That is the only solution, if not we fear regional solutions, and that will not work,” Solberg said.

He said that the association’s vision is that shipping should be emissions free in 2100.

The IMO says its Marine Environment Protection Committee is expected “to adopt an initial strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships” at the meeting in London.

The Paris Agreement sets a goal of phasing out net greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of the century, mainly by shifting from fossil fuels to cleaner energies such as solar and wind power. (Reporting By Ole Petter Skonnord, editing by Alister Doyle and David Evans)

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