Attending the UN Climate Action Summit, 21-23 September 2019, IAPH Managing Director Patrick Verhoeven joined partners of the ‘Getting to Zero Coalition’ at the UN headquarters in New York to support the ambition of having zero emission vessels operational on deep sea routes by 2030. This is necessary to meet the IMO 2050 greenhouse gas reduction target. The coalition so far consists of more than eighty leading private and public organisations in the maritime industry, including the ports of Aarhus, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Vancouver. The initiative is coordinated by the Global Maritime Forum. Thirteen governments have so far endorsed the coalition as well. As a supporting organisation, IAPH will endeavour to get more ports to sign up as actual members of the coalition. The availability of zero emission fuels in ports and safe and reliable bunkering procedures is a vital condition to make the 2030 objective of the coalition happen.
As Port of Antwerp CEO Jacques Vandermeiren put it during the launch of the coalition: ‘Decarbonisation of shipping will happen on land’. The supporting role of IAPH ties in with our work on bunkering of clean marine fuels. Following the launch, the Coalition is entering the next phase where all focus is on turning the project outline into an actionable work plan with clear milestones for the next 18 months. A workshop will be held end of November to present the work done so far, discuss the roadmap and build a sense of community.
You can watch Port of Antwerp CEO Jacques Vandermeiren and Maersk COO Søren Toft announce the coalition at the UN Climate Summit in New York here. More information on the coalition can be found on the website of the Global Maritime Forum.
