The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved amendments to strengthen the existing mandatory requirements for new ships to be more energy efficient.
The amendments were approved at the 74th session of the MEPC, which took place from May 13 to 17, 2019.
Specifically, the committee approved, for adoption at the next session in April 2020, amendments to MARPOL’s Annex VI to significantly strengthen the requirements of “phase 3” of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI).
The draft amendments advance the entry into force of phase 3 to 2022, beginning in 2025, for various types of vessels, including gas carriers, general cargo vessels and LNG carriers. This means that new vessels built after that date must be significantly more energy efficient than the baseline. For container ships, the EEDI reduction rate is considerably improved for the types of larger vessels.
The MEPC also agreed on the terms of reference for a correspondence group to examine the introduction of a possible “phase 4” of EEDI requirements.
The committee promoted a number of other measures to support the achievement of the objectives set out in the initial IMO strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships, in accordance with the Paris Agreement in the framework of the UNFCCC and the United Nations 2030. Agenda for Sustainable Development.
One of the initiatives is the Fourth IMO GHG Study initiated by MEPC. Works are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2019, with a view to the final report of the study to be submitted to MEPC 76, which will be held in the fall of 2020.
In addition, the committee adopted a resolution that encourages cooperation with ports to reduce emissions from maritime transport.
As explained, this could include regulatory, technical, operational and economic actions, such as the provision of onshore energy supply, the safe and efficient supply of low carbon and zero carbon alternative fuels, incentives to promote low carbon sustainable transport. and zero carbon. and support for the optimization of arrivals to ports, including the facilitation of the arrival of ships in term “just in time”.
In addition, the MEPC approved a procedure for evaluating the impact of the proposed new measures, agreed to establish a multi-donor GHG trust fund and agreed the terms of reference for the sixth and seventh intersessional working groups to be held in November. 2019 and in March 2020. respectively to speed up the work.
Possible short, medium and long-term measures to reduce GHG emissions from ships were also discussed.
