A lot of talk at MEPC

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MARITIME • IMO’S MEPC IS STRUGGLING TO BALANCE THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT POSED TO ISLAND NATIONS WITH THE NEED TO MAINTAIN THE VIABILITY OF MARITIME TRADE

IN THE WAKE of the COP26 conference in Glasgow in November, there was much anticipation for the 77th session of the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), which was held in a hybrid format from 22 to 26 November. COP26 had “invited” IMO to accelerate progress in the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping, with the aim of reaching zero emissions by 2050.

Another topic of great interest was the prevention of pollution by plastics from ships, following the X-Press Pearl incident off the coast of Sri Lanka this past 20 May. A fi re that broke out on the containership led to the loss of several containers before the ship eventually sank, at least one of which spilled its cargo of plastics pellets, causing a major environmental disaster. Sri Lanka had submitted a paper asking IMO to draw up tighter regulations for the transport of such pellets, suggesting an entry in the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code might be in order.

In the event, MEPC spent so much time talking about GHG emissions that there was little opportunity to discuss the Sri Lankan proposal in detail. MEPC passed the matter on to the Sub-committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR), indicating that, if new provisions are to be implemented, they will appear in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol), likely in Annex V.

MEPC did address marine plastics litter in general, as part of the IMO Action Plan adopted in 2018; this focuses more on plastics litter generated by – and retrieved by – fi shing vessels. It also includes moves to improve the availability of port reception and treatment facilities. Again, though, little progress was made at the MEPC session, aside from a proposal to make the Garbage Record Book mandatory for smaller ships of between 100 and 400 gross tonnes; draft amendments to Marpol are to be prepared. CONTROLLING EMISSIONS Similarly, there was a whole lot of talk but not much concrete action on GHG emissions. Some island states being threatened by rising sea levels – Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands – proposed that IMO commit to reaching zero GHG emissions from shipping by no later than 2050; this was countered by the International Council of Shipping (ICS) with a target of net-zero by 2050 (which is not quite the same thing) on the grounds that this would be more plausible given current decarbonisation technologies. ICS expressed concern that going for zero emissions would lead to a rationing of the supply of maritime transport.

MEPC declined to adopt either resolution but, heeding the call from COP26 to get on with it, adopted revised guidelines to its short and medium-term GHG reduction measures, without setting a target. MPEC also agreed to establish an ad-hoc Expert Workshop on Impact Assessments that will consider concrete proposals for improving the impact assessment procedure and provide recommendations as part of the lessonslearned exercise. This is to be held in early March, with the aim of developing a fi nal draft revised strategy for presentation at MEPC’s 80th session in spring 2023.

“Strengthening the ambition of the Initial IMO GHG Strategy during its revision will be crucial,” said IMO secretary-general Kitack Lim at the close of the session. “Our collective actions must show our dedication to contribute towards the global issue, climate change.”