ESPO applauds EU role in achieving the IMO CO2 reduction target

It said that for European ports, the agreement reached last week is a real milestone and sends a strong signal that the IMO can take action when it needs too.

“A clear signal has been sent by the IMO; shipping now has a reduction target and the sector will take action to decarbonise in line with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The clear support of EU stakeholders – both from port and shipping side – to the EU negotiators has delivered,” said Isabelle Ryckbost, Secretary General of ESPO.

Concrete measures

Ms Ryckbost cautioned though that this momentum should be used to continue on the same path towards developing concrete measures to implement the agreement.

ESPO believes that meaningful measures should be developed and introduced as soon as possible and by 2023 at the latest in order to implement the targets agreed on.

European ports point out that the nature of the measures and their timing will steer to a large extent the infrastructure investments to be made by ports to facilitate the decarbonisation of the maritime sector.

The European Commission is currently preparing the new legislative framework for the financing of the TEN-T network for the period 2021-2027 with decarbonisation expected to be one of the main pillars of the new Connecting Europe Facility proposal.

“The sooner we have measures the shipping sector will agree on identified and rolled out, the better the ports can plan adequate investments and benefit from the tools offered by the new CEF. Clarity regarding the measures will also help EU policy makers to set the priorities for the next period. This is in the interest of both European ports and the shipping sector,” said Ms Ryckbost.