India suggests using 5 percent carbon-free marine fuel by 2030 but cautions against using any unrealistic goals

On Monday, India requested that the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) concentrate on a reasonable goal to guarantee that net zero carbon fuels account for 5% of the marine fuel mix by 2030, without the need for any extra checkpoints during this exploratory and take-off stage.

Ajithkumar Sukumaran, Chief Surveyor-Cum-Additional DG, Ministry of Shipping, an Indian delegate, stated during the plenary of the 80th session of the Maritime Environmental Protection Committee of the IMO that “any unrealistic target will place undue pressure on the governments to resort to flawed policies, industry to make hasty and unsustainable investments, and research to push through half-cooked and immature technological solutions – all of them will have long-term consequences.”

India, which is classified as extremely risky in the climate change vulnerability index, had submitted an MEPC document that proposed a course of action for the reduction strategy to be phased in gradually while making sure the transition is easy, doable, and inclusive, leaving no one behind.

While supporting the idea of a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, India emphasised that the goal of such measures should not be to punish the sector but rather to promote the switch to green energy.

According to Sukumaran, “if the green transition is the primary objective, the economic proposals should necessarily explore options to generate adequate funds to meet not only R&D in the maritime sector, but also for production of alternate fuels and development of infrastructure for its supply networks in ports across the globe.”

The Indian delegate also warned the other delegates that unless the availability of affordable future fuels, cost-effective future fuelled engines, and trained manpower to operate them is guaranteed, any economic measure taken alone or as part of a collection of measures may not be able to achieve the Paris Agreement goals without having a significant impact on trade.

He also demanded recommendations for income production and the strategic allocation of those monies to sectors that deserved them.

Many of the economic proposals currently being discussed by the MEPC 80, according to Sukumaran, directly or indirectly support GHG pricing and trading in one way or another. Sukumaran claimed that such uncertain, risky, and speculative proposals would make future investment decisions in new zero-carbon technologies unattractive for developing nations.

In light of this, the Indian delegate added, “We thank the co-sponsors of various economic elements, including China, Norway, Japan, and ICS, and see merit in all of them, though they need further finetuning and collation.”

India requested that all such financial ideas be taken into consideration and given careful consideration in the next sessions in order to develop a more comprehensive and relevant plan that could be adopted at a later time.

Additionally, India committed to ‘wholeheartedly support’ any IMO proposal for the reduction of emissions from the maritime industry.