Shipping Industry agrees to reach netzero by 2050

The global shipping industry has agreed to reduce planet-warming gases to netzero by or around 2050. But critics say the deal is fatally flawed.

Ships produce around 3% of global CO2 but countries will now have to reduce this as close as possible to zero by the middle of the century.

Small island states have welcomed the plan but green groups are furious.

They believe the strategy is toothless and will do little to limit rising temperatures.

The global shipping industry is critical to world trade carrying up to 90% of commercial goods. But that trade is highly polluting, using some of the most carbon-heavy fuels to power ships’ engines.

These dirty smokestacks produce roughly the same amount of carbon each year as Germany.

But maritime transport has proved hard to regulate as ships are often owned in one country but registered with another.

Small states like the Marshall Islands, Liberia and Panama have huge numbers of ships sailing under their national flags but they have no real responsibility for these vessels.

This complex arrangement meant that shipping was omitted from the Paris climate agreement in 2015 when the world put in place a global plan to tackle rising temperatures.

In 2018 shipping did agree to cut carbon in half by 2050, but this was seen as totally inadequate by scientists.

Now after growing pressure from a coalition of countries including the UK, the US, and Pacific Island states, delegates meeting in London have agreed a new strategy that would bring emissions to net-zero “by or around” 2050.

Netzero means that any emissions remaining then would be cancelled out by actively removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Richer countries and small island states had called for a 50% reduction by 2030 and 96% emissions cut by 2040.

But with resistance from China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and others the new strategy will see “indicative checkpoints” rather than hard targets and these would aim to see emissions from shipping fall by at least 20% by 2030, and at least 70% by 2040.