Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-06-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Foreign Secretary on diplomatic efforts to promote an agreement for reducing shipping emissions through the International Maritime Organisation.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Department for Transport officials continue to work closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other departments to ensure that the UK continues to play a leading role in ongoing discussions in the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee regarding a global solution to tackling emissions from international shipping.

With greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping expected to grow as others sectors act to reduce theirs, the UK Government is clear that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) must take further steps to cut emissions and improve energy efficiency.

Negotiations in the IMO on how the global shipping sector further reduce emissions and contribute to the goal in the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increases to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts towards 1.5°C, are at an early, technical stage.