The Marine Environment Protection Committee 81st session (MEPC 81) is expected to clarify steps to hit net zero targets for the sector, market participants at the Asia Pacific Maritime 2024 conference in Singapore said.
The MEPC 81, spearheaded by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), will take place at the IMO headquarters in London from 18-22 March.
The MEPC tackles environmental issues such as curbing ship-source pollution to sea and air, ballast water management, ship recycling, and pollution preparedness and response. The IMO had announced a net zero greenhouses gas emissions target by 2050 at the 80th MEPC session on 7 July 2023.
Market participants are hopeful that discussions at this year's MEPC would include measures targeted to clarify and accelerate the implementation of maritime decarbonisation.
"We saw the establishment of new IMO targets at MEPC80, but what remained unestablished was the mechanism for how to achieve these targets," chief technology officer for energy and fuels at Denmark's Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping, Torben Nørgaard, said. "As such, in March this year, at MEPC81, we expect to kick-start implementing the necessary measures to activate these new targets."
"It is generally understood that in order to meet the targets and provide more certainty, mid-term measures should include a technical element and an economic element," Andreea Miu, the head of decarbonisation at the UK-based Sustainable Shipping Initiative, said. "MEPC81 is expected to advance the conversation on these as well as any building blocks required to operationalise such measures."
Miu suggested that the meeting could cover more practical subjects like greenhouse gas (GHG) standards, carbon intensity measures, economic assessments and carbon pricing mechanisms.
Discussions on how the maritime industry would handle onboard and on-land carbon capture could also take place at MEPC81 next week, Methanol Institute's chief operating officer Chris Chatterton said.
The market can anticipate "a great drive around the short-term and mid-term measures that will be essential for driving the transition and creating tools and mechanisms to regulate the industry towards the newly established targets", Nørgaard said.
"More clarification is needed on what the elements of a just and equitable transition will be, how funds will be collected and distributed equitably across member states globally," Miu pointed out, emphasising that it would be critical to have fair access to technology and suitable measurements of the needs of countries disproportionately affected by climate change.
