Calls for a 70-100% cut in shipping emissions by 2050 are "unlikely to achieve consensus support", warns influential trade body ahead of a key UN meeting.
Even if the industry is not confident of changing that fast, experts warn lowballing ambition carries market risks. “The climate science on how long we have to reach zero emissions for 1.5C and well below 2C is quite clear,” said Tristan Smith, shipping and climate researcher at UCL. “That needs to be part of IMO’s level of ambition if it wants to avoid having to revise its level of ambition upwards in the future (which would be disruptive for the industry), or spend the next 30 years explaining why it should emit a greater share of a diminishing CO2 budget than everyone else.”