Maritime stakeholders braced for outcomes from key IMO MEPC meeting

This week, the IMO headquarters in London is the location of one of the most keenly anticipated and critical meetings of the Marine Environment Protection Committee in recent years. Many maritime stakeholders have described MEPC 80 as a ‘make or break’ event in terms of shipping’s energy transition, and the decisions that are made by Member States over the coming days are being seen as crucial in demonstrating the IMO’s level of ambition in aligning shipping’s decarbonisation pathway with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5oC.

High on MEPC 80’s very full agenda is the IMO’s revised greenhouse gas strategy which is expected to include more stringent greenhouse gas reduction targets for shipping and to outline a set of technical and economic measures to be developed to set global shipping on a course towards phasing out greenhouse gas emissions.

Other items on the IMO’s ‘to do’ list this week include discussions on mid-term measures such as a greenhouse gas intensity fuel standard and the options for market-based measures, such as a carbon levy, to encourage the uptake of low and zero carbon marine fuels.
There’s a lot to play for at this week’s meeting and expectations in many quarters are high. The decisions and outcomes of MEPC 80 will be revealed on Friday, 7 July and, whatever they may be, they will inform many of the presentations and discussions at the LISW23 headline conference on 13 September, which, fittingly, will be held at the home of the IMO on the banks of the River Thames.

At this high-level conference, titled ‘Reframing Risk in a Complex Market’, a raft of expert speakers will examine the challenges facing shipping, such as the commercial cost of regulatory compliance across the decarbonisation timeline, ESG imperatives, and how best to navigate the regulatory landscape in the near and longer term.

See full LISW23 Event Calendar here

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