A package of technical and operational measures developed by governments and is being put forward for adoption by the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee at its July 11-15 meeting. Most significantly, this package includes the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and the use of Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plans (SEEMP).

ICS member associations are lobbying their governments to back the adoption of the global rules on technical and operational measures, which the chamber believes will deliver at least a 20 percent reduction in emissions by 2020 per tonne-km of trade carried by sea.

The ICS believes that an agreement at the IMO will be vital to maintain the principle of global rules for a global industry, which cannot be guaranteed if emission reduction measures are left entirely to the high-level climate change talks at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or if unilateral action is taken by the European Commission, which will be the likely result if agreement is not reached by governments at IMO next week.

?Any failure to agree at IMO will make discussions on the reduction of shipping"s emissions far more difficult,? explained ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe. ?As well as being bad for the environment, a "no" vote will threaten the "level playing field" in international shipping with the risk of very serious market distortions.?

A "yes" vote on technical measures will also lay the ground for the subsequent development by the IMO of market-based measures (MBMs), which are expected to provide a means whereby shipping can make a significant financial contribution to environmental projects in developing countries. This would satisfy the UNFCCC principle of "common but differentiated responsibility", which is important to developing countries. The ICS recently announced that if MBMs to reduce CO2 emissions are developed by governments then the international industry has a definite preference for a mechanism based on fuel levies or compensation funds rather than any emissions-trading scheme.

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