FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 14, 2009
Contacts: Jacqueline Savitz, +1 202.486.6113 or jsavitz@oceana.org
Dustin Cranor, +1 202.467.1917, +1 202.341.2267 or dcranor@oceana.org
Oceana Reacts to IMO’s Failure to Discuss Mandatory Controls on Global
Warming Pollution from Ships
LONDON, July 14, 2009 – Oceana issued the following statement
from senior campaign director Jacqueline Savitz today in response to the International
Maritime Organization’s
There are only five countries that out-rank the global shipping fleet in carbon
dioxide emissions – the shipping industry releases more carbon dioxide than
Germany, and nearly as much as Japan according to IMO reports.
“Oceana is deeply troubled by the apparent decision of the IMO – on the first
day of its meeting – to formally side-step any discussion about the application
of greenhouse gas requirements to ships. There is a clear need for mandatory
requirements to control emissions that contribute to climate change. Ships are
credited with releasing more than one billion pounds of carbon dioxide each
year and could account for about 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions
globally by 2050 under the business-as-usual scenario.
The single most important action the IMO could have taken this week – in its
last scheduled meeting prior to the Copenhagen Conference – is to fulfill its
responsibility to regulate global warming pollution from ships. It appears that
instead there will be continued discussion of measurement tools such as
efficiency indices. The IMO committee did agree, after considerable debate, to
discuss market based measures but only under the condition that the subject of
whether the measures would be mandatory or voluntary is side-stepped. The IMO’s
decision today compromises its ability to fulfill its responsibilities, and
necessitates the setting of an additional ‘intersessional’ meeting prior to the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in
-30-
Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world’s oceans. Our teams of marine
scientists, economists, lawyers and advocates win specific and concrete policy
changes to reduce pollution and to prevent the irreversible collapse of fish
populations, marine mammals and other sea life. Global in scope and dedicated
to conservation, Oceana has campaigners based in North America, Europe and
