The Poseidon Principles – Part 1 – Overview
In April 2018, the International Maritime Organisation (the “IMO”), took the unprecedented step of committing the shipping industry to a long-term strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, and to phase them out as soon as possible this century. Known as “IMO 2050”, the strategy aims to reduce total annual greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008, whilst pursuing efforts to phase them out entirely by 2100.
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This bold strategy follows Regulation 14.1.3 (the “Regulation”) of Annex VI of IMO’s pollution prevention treaty (the “MARPOL Convention”) adopted by the IMO in 2016 in response to environmental concerns. The Regulation provides for a 0.5% global cap on the sulphur content of marine fuels compared to the previous limit of 3.5% under Regulation 14.1.2 of the MARPOL Convention (“IMO 2020”). This came into force on 1 January 2020. In itself, IMO 2020 has been described as the most profound regulatory change within the shipping industry. The intention is to significantly reduce the amount of sulphur oxides from ships and to improve environmental well-being and health globally, particularly with regard to coastal populations. |
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