Last Thursday, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the body regulating global shipping, adopted a non-binding net zero emissions target for “as close to 2050 as possible” (N.Y. Times). The new plan also sets interim “checkpoints,” calling for governments to require shipping companies to reduce emissions “at least 20%” by 2030 and “at least 70%” by 2040, compared to 2008 levels. 

The shipping industry currently accounts for around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, emitting more carbon each year than Germany (N.Y. Times, Bloomberg). The emission targets in the plan fail to align with the Paris Agreement’s goal of restricting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius; to meet this climate goal, experts have calculated that the shipping industry would need to slash emissions by 45% by 2030 (AP News). 

While the new goals are a major improvement upon the IMO’s previous strategy, which called to cut shipping emissions 50% by 2050, environmentalists have voiced disappointment with their divergence from the Paris Agreement’s targets (Bloomberg). Shipping companies have campaigned for a shipping levy on carbon emissions to help them afford to invest in new zero emission ships, but the IMO has deferred this decision (AP News).