International Chamber of Shipping’s (ICS) 2021 proposal for a global, shipping-financed, IMO-managed US$5Bn fund to promote zero-carbon fuels and technologies in shipping has been updated to include dedicated funding for shipping decarbonisation efforts within developing countries

ICS said its updated submission to IMO is built on a proposal the organisation put forward alongside other sponsors in 2021 to establish a US$5Bn IMO Maritime Research Fund (IMRF). Thus far, the proposal has failed to garner enough support to be adopted by IMO.

Amendments to the original proposal include as much as US$50M per year for developing countries.

“Developing countries are experiencing the worst of the climate crisis. Industry wishes to earmark some US$50M per year to support greenhouse gas reduction projects in developing and climate-vulnerable countries, including Small Island Developing States. This would be a significant investment and a major boost to IMO’s existing programmes to ensure the global net-zero transition is fair and equitable,” ICS deputy secretary general Simon Bennett said.

A statement from ICS said the shipping industry is asking the countries who have yet to support the proposal, notably many within the EU block, to reconsider their position at the next round of IMO discussions in May, when IMO’s Intersessional Working Group on the Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships is next scheduled to meet.

“We are concerned the European Commission may wish to delay the IMRF by combining it with separate discussions about carbon pricing. Although we also want an IMO market-based measure as soon as possible, this will likely take several more years to negotiate. Meanwhile, the need to drastically accelerate research and development is becoming ever more urgent if a net-zero target by 2050 is to be plausible,” Mr Bennett said.

Other elements in the revised proposal include encouraging funding for joint research and development projects between developed and developing countries, a formula for co-funding projects to ensure differential treatment for companies and institutions in developing countries, and new provisions to assuage concerns raised by governments about intellectual property rights.

Source: Rivieramm