“Together we have confronted realities and we have set the world in the right direction,” COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber said, hailing the agreement by almost 200 countries as an “historic package”.
“We have delivered a paradigm shift that has the potential to redefine our economies,” he said.
“We needed this COP to send crystal clear signals on several fronts. Some genuine strides forward were delivered,” said Simon Stiell, the UN’s senior climate change diplomat.
Over the weekend 60 maritime organisations and government partners agreed on a course to deliver on the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s net zero targets by or around 2050 at Shaping the Future of Shipping, an event hosted by the International Chamber of Shipping and the government of the UAE on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai.
More than 300 leaders, including over 30 nationalities from across the world, from the entire energy-maritime value chain convened, to work together to deliver a robust regulatory outcome at the IMO negotiations in March 2024 at MEPC81.
The image that grabbed the most shipping headlines during COP28 was the sight of the CEOs of leading global shipping lines, MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd and Wallenius Wilhelmsen standing together and issuing a joint declaration calling for an end date for fossil-only powered newbuilds.
Other key shipping developments during the past fortnight included the creation of the Zero Emission Port Alliance (ZEPA) by APM Terminals and DP World to make battery-electric container handling equipment affordable, accessible and attractive this decade through collective action, while in a neat visualisation of where shipping is on its path towards decarbonisation, the world’s first ammonia capable vessel arrived in Dubai on diesel fuel. Australian miner Fortescue has been showcasing its retrofit project (pictured below) in the waters of the Dubai Harbour Marina during the COP28 conference to shed attention on the creative approaches but also the regulatory changes required to decarbonise shipping.
