By
Cherie Rowlands |
International experts will be attending a workshop at International Maritime Organization (IMO) headquarters between 26 February and 1 March, to begin updating the inventory of greenhouse gases (GHG) from international shipping.
The Expert Workshop is intended to provide current and reliable information on which IMO – through its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) – might base its work to further reduce GHG.
The workshop will be considering further, the methods and assumptions to be used in the update and is expected to provide a summary of its deliberations in a report on its work at the MEPC 65 meeting in May 2013.
In addition to CO2, a global GHG inventory of emissions and relevant substances from ships engaged in international transport, may also include methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride, subject to data availability. Other relevant substances that may contribute to climate change include nitrogen oxides, non-methane volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and sulphur oxides.
Exhaust gases are the primary source of GHG emissions from ships, with carbon dioxide the most important GHG, both in terms of quantity and of global warming potential. An updated inventory would also provide a baseline to enable the impact to be assessed of technical and operational energy efficiency measures for international shipping that entered into force on 1 January 2013, IMO said in a written statement.
The MEPC, at its sixty-fourth session in October 2012, endorsed in principle the outline for an update of the GHG emissions estimate, which follows the Second IMO GHG Study 2009. An updated GHG inventory is considered necessary as the current estimate contained in the Second study does not take account of the economic downturn experienced globally since 2008.
The Second IMO GHG Study 2009 estimated that international shipping emitted 870 million tonnes, or around 2.7 per cent of the global man-made emissions of CO2, in 2007.