The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Singapore have unveiled a new collaborative global ecosystem concept for shipping decarbonization initiatives, during a global decarbonization webinar (17 September).
The NextGEN initiative aims to facilitate the exchange of information on decarbonization initiatives among many stakeholders (including IMO Member States, NGOs, industry and academia); identify opportunities and gaps for decarbonization in the global maritime community; and create important networks and platforms for collaboration between these initiatives. This network initiative has been named "NextGEN", where GEN is short for "Green and Efficient Navigation".
The webinar, attended by more than 500 maritime industry leaders and professionals from 63 countries, was jointly organized by IMO and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
During the webinar, IMO Secretary General Mr. Kitack Lim recognized the unprecedented times we are living in and expressed his belief that. He called for more action to accelerate research on zero-carbon marine fuels.
"The biggest challenge we still face is the battle against global warming and climate change."
"To achieve this, IMO is intensifying its efforts to act as a global forum and promoter of R&D in zero-carbon marine fuels, bringing together stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as private banks and development and other potential donors around the world"
Kitack Lim, IMO Secretary General
"The world must continue to fight climate change, even as it faces the COVID-19 crisis. No one can do it alone. This is a global ambition, which must be realized by the international maritime community. But we all have capabilities, experience and resources to contribute to this effort. Singapore will do its part, and we hope that the maritime community will come together, under the leadership of the IMO, to redouble our efforts and build a better, greener world."
Ong Ye Kung, Minister of Transport of Singapore
José Matheickal, Head of the IMO Partnerships and Projects Department, explained the main features of the NextGEN concept and indicated that further discussions are planned at the next Conference on the Future of Maritime Transport to be held in Singapore in February 2021 IMO will organize NextGEN workshops in 2021, with the support of Singapore, to bring together various decarbonisation initiatives, in order to map in detail the global decarbonisation network of shipping.
A subsequent world map document will inform a wider audience through relevant IMO meetings. NextGEN is expected to act as a catalyst to stimulate collaboration between different initiatives once the NextGEN collaboration platform is fully developed by 2022/2023.
Other speakers at the webinar made presentations that span the spectrum of the various existing cooperation frameworks on decarbonization, from initiatives in the Pacific to actions led by the maritime industry and financial institutions.
The panel discussions provided the opportunity to share views on additional opportunities for cooperation and to outline possible next steps to support the achievement of the 2050 level of ambition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping at least to the half compared to 2008, as set out in IMO's Greenhouse Gas Strategy.
