Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had at the International Maritime Organisation’s Marine Environment Protection Committee on zero emission shipping.

The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) met between the 22 and 26 of November for its 77^th Session. The United Kingdom submitted a proposal referring to scientific evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicating the steps required to keep to the Paris Agreement temperature goals. The proposal by the United Kingdom supported the adoption of a resolution recognising the importance of international shipping reaching zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050.

Unfortunately, this resolution, supported by many like-minded ambitious Member States, did not gain sufficient support. Although the United Kingdom would have preferred to send a stronger message in a resolution, the Government is pleased that the MEPC initiated the review of the initial IMO strategy on reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from ships and recognised the need to strengthen the ambition in the strategy during this revision.