The Board of Directors of BIMCO has approved the organisation’s updated greenhouse gas (GHG) position statement, elaborating on who it believes should pay for carbon pricing and warning that excessive retroactive measures could have negative unintended consequences.
Tackling the barriers to transition may be the single most important issue facing the shipping industry on its path to decarbonisation. To succeed, new commercial solutions and shared responsibilities between charterers and shipowners will be required. So will collaborative efforts and responsibilities by stakeholders from shipowners, shippers and charterers to energy suppliers, shipyards, and engine makers.
As the regulatory landscape continues to change, BIMCO supports the Initial Strategy of the IMO, and its vision and objectives, but believes more ambition is needed. BIMCO therefore supports the objective of net zero carbon for shipping by 2050.
An important issue is the allocation of the responsibility for carbon pricing. BIMCO makes it clear that the commercial party responsible for setting the speed and route of a ship should also provide for emissions allowances or credits under a market-based measure (MBM).
David Loosley (pictured), BIMCO Secretary General and CEO, said: “We believe that in the case of a time charterparty, this responsibility should lie with the charterer, and under a voyage charterparty, it should be with the party that commits the ship to the voyage charter.”
BIMCO remains a persistent advocate for the implementation of a global MBM. Such a measure should feature predictability and stability with regard to carbon price and thereby be suitable for incorporation in commercial contracts.
Looseley concluded: “A note of caution is made in the position pointing out that excessive retroactive technical measures when applied to existing ship could result in premature retirement of ships. This could be in the form of unwarranted removal of needed capacity from the global supply chains and unnecessary additional emissions from building new ships.”
