Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to reduce international shipping emissions independently of the International Maritime Organisation.

The UK proudly hosts the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is committed to acting through the IMO to address international shipping pollutants and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

A decade of concerted action at international level has seen effective reductions in pollutant emissions and the UK took a leading role in advocating for the global IMO sulphur cap for marine fuels in 2020.

Domestically the Government published guidance to support UK ports to reduce pollutant emissions and since April 2010 applied limits to sulphur content of marine fuels for ships at berth.

To complement UK climate leadership at the IMO, particularly in securing the ambitious IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy (July 2023), the UK has been a driving force on the development of clean maritime technologies, with announcements at London International Shipping Week’s Clean Maritime Day on Green Shipping Corridors through the Clydebank Declaration and launching a £1.5 million International Green Corridor Fund in September 2023, as well as the winners of the over £80 million Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition, which will see zero emission vessels deployed in the UK by 2025.

We will also set out how we will take ambitious action domestically in the forthcoming refreshed Clean Maritime Plan, which will set out an ambitious and credible pathway to net zero GHG emissions for the sector, considering the impact of our own domestic action and international measures, as these develop through the IMO.