ABS, Arcsilea exploring IMO’s decarbonization measures

June 14, 2022, by Fatima Bahtić

A consortium led by U.S. classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and U.K.’s consultancy provider Arcsilea has won a tender from the European Commission to carry out a technical study on the future of ship energy efficiency measures introduced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

As disclosed, the partners won the tender from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE).

The 15-month-long project will analyze the IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) framework.

Moreover, the parties will provide recommendations for further development, effective implementation and enforcement.

The initiative is part of the Smart and Sustainable Mobility Strategy adopted by the European Commission, which calls for the European Union (EU) to establish sustainability standards with the IMO.

The strategy was adopted to meet the target set under the European Green Deal, which is to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2050.

“Energy efficiency measures are cumulatively changing the shape of our industry before our eyes. We can see how they are driving change on fleets and operations as owners understand how to adapt their existing assets and new orders to perform in the new business environment they create,” said Georgios Plevrakis, ABS Vice President, Global Sustainability.

“We are very pleased to continue our collaboration with DG MOVE and ABS to help drive practical improvements to the IMO short-term measures,” Edwin Pang, Arcsilea Founder and Principal Consultant added.

Last year, IMO agreed on a set of draft guidelines to support mandatory measures approved by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to cut the carbon footprint of all ships.

IMO’s MEPC 78, held from 6 June to 10 June 2022, saw the organization addressing short-term measures to reduce GHG emissions, mid-term measures including strengthening the carbon intensity indicator for ships and start considering a revision of the IMO’s GHG strategy.

To remind, shipping emissions are said to represent around 13% of the overall EU GHG emissions from the transport sector and the EU has been exploring different ways of cutting the sector’s CO2 footprint.

In May this year, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) voted to adopt the European Commission’s proposal to include shipping in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). The amended EU ETS seeks to cover 100% of emissions from intra-European routes as of 2024 and 50% of emissions from extra-European routes from and to the EU from 2024 until the end of 2026.

The move is seen as one of the crucial steps to achieving the targets of the EU Green Deal.