Environmental NGOs and shipping industry to share the stage at SMMEnvironmental NGOs and shipping industry to share the stage at SMM

The NGO debate will be the closing session of gmec, the global maritime environmental congress, organised by SMM hosts Hamburg Messe und Congresse in co-operation with Seatrade. The event takes place in Hamburg on September 7 as part of the SMM trade fair.

The session will be a live follow-up to a similar discussion held online during the pandemic, with a few returning panellists and some fresh viewpoints to add to the debate.

Since we last met, environmental regulation has advanced at the IMO through multiple MEPC meetings, and the European emissions trading scheme has advanced through some of the EU’s bureaucratic barriers with some attempts to cover shipping within the scheme.

What will the panelists make of the regulatory advances made in the past 18 months, and the real world carbon emissions reductions achieved so far? 

Taking the stage for the NGOs is Jacob Armstrong, Sustainable Shipping Officer at T&E and Sönke Diesener, NABU Transport Policy Officer who are likely to point to slow progress at IMO as a sign that the industry lacks ambition in its decarbonisation efforts.

The green lobby will find some support from the shipping representatives on stage. Bimco Deputy Secretary General Lars Robert Pedersen will be on the panel, and Bimco’s position is that the ambition set out in the IMO’s initial greenhouse gas strategy is not enough. Regional regulation is seen by some as an antidote to slow global progress, but Bimco’s position is for global regulation at the IMO which puts it at odds with more ambitious EU draft regulation.

Related:Podcast: In Focus - Advancing the decarbonisation dialogue at SMM

From a practicality point of view, Matthias Wiese, Siemens Energy Marine, Head of Technology & Innovations and Dr Daniel Chatterjee, Rolls Royce Director Technology Management & Regulatory Affairs will provide input from those tasked with finding the technologies we will need to meet the decarbonisation challenge.

To book your place at gmec, go to the SMM website.