A NUMBER of commitments were made at the One Ocean Summit, held in France from 9 to 11 February, including the determination to preserve the oceans by contributing to the Brest Commitments for the Oceans, alongside the United Nations, UNESCO and the International Maritime Organization.
The event, held in the context of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the support of the United Nations, brought together 41 states and representatives of civil society and businesses, including the leaders of the world’s major shipping lines. The commitments outline actions to preserve biodiversity, stop over-exploitation of marine resources, fight pollution and mitigate climate change.
The 27 member states of the European Union, joined by 16 countries, have launched the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) in order to foster the conclusion this year of an effective, global agreement on the sustainable use of the high seas and the protection of their biodiversity.
Twenty-to European shipowners have committed to the new Green Marine Europe label, which entails tangible measures in eight fields: underwater noise, pollutant air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, aquatic invasive species, residues, oily discharge and ship recycling.
Maersk’s Soren Skou took the floor with fellow CEOs Rolf Habben Jansen (Hapag Lloyd), Rodolphe Saadé (CGM) and Soren Toft (MSC), showing the industry´s unity around the urgent need to decarbonise shipping.
“We may have different ways of getting there, but we all agree on the key elements and, even more significantly, on the end goal and the extreme urgency for the IMO to set a valid legal framework. We need action and we need it now, this year,” Mr Skou said.
“We need France and other EU member states to lead the efforts not only at regional level, but also at the IMO to ensure we decarbonise shipping in time.
“We need this strong signal in the form of a basket of measures including a GHG price and an end date to the production of fossil fuelled ships.”
The summit agreed that creation of protected areas is an essential pillar for preserving biodiversity. More than 30 additional countries have joined the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People launched at the One Planet Summit in January 2021. Now, 84 countries aim to protect 30 % of the world’s land and sea by 2030.Two thirds of the ocean, beyond national jurisdiction, representing 45% of the surface of our planet, cannot currently enjoy marine protected area status.
A total of 35 actors including 18 major European and global ports have committed to speeding up the supply of electricity to berthed ships to limit greenhouse gas emissions and reduce atmospheric pollution in often dense port cities.
In order to reduce atmospheric pollution, all Mediterranean countries, along with the European Union, have committed to ask the IMO to create a low sulphur emissions zone across the Mediterranean starting on 1 January 2025.
This summer, France, Spain, Italy and Monaco will also ask the IMO to establish a “Particularly Sensitive Sea Area” given the presence of many cetaceans, in order to limit sailing speeds and reduce collisions.
In Brest, France and Colombia launched a global coalition for blue carbon, which will bring together national and multilateral actors in the field to contribute to financing the restoration of coastal ecosystems, using shared and rigorous methodologies.
At the summit, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development joined the European Investment Bank and the development banks of France, Germany, Italy and Spain, which have joined forces in an initiative for the reduction of plastic pollution at sea, the Clean Oceans Initiative. Together, they have doubled their efforts in this sector, committing to provide €4 billion of finance by 2025.
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CMA CGM Group committed to no longer carry plastic waste on its ships, from 1 June 2022. The company will prevent this type of waste from being exported to destinations where sorting, recycling or recovery cannot be assured.
In his address, CMA CGM chief Rodolphe Saadé also announced that the group will host one of the two sites of the French Institute for Decarbonation at Tangram, the Group’s major innovation and training centre due to open in Marseille in 2023.
The work of the One Ocean Summit is the starting point of a series of international meetings where the oceans will be central, including the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, in June, and COP27 in Egypt, in autumn.
Soren Skou also highlighted the need for the transition to be just, suggesting that a substantial part of the revenues raised through a global GHG price should go to climate projects in developing states, irrespective of whether these projects are shipping related or not. He emphasised that some of the developing nations present at the summit will likely become leaders in the future green fuel economy.
MSC chief Soren Toft focused on the company’s commitment to achieving net decarbonisation by 2050 without relying on offsetting.
“We don’t know how long the transition period will last – five, 10, 15 years or longer – but we cannot afford to wait,” he said.
“While we do not know precisely how to achieve this end state, we do understand the importance as a global leader to push the development of the solutions.”
