The IMO initial strategy for reducing Greenhouse Gas(GHG) emissions, and its follow-up actions towards 2050

At the 62nd Meeting (2011) of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (henceforth MEPC), the IMO had adopted the proposed amendment adding to the MARPOL Annex Chapter Ⅵ making it mandatory the EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) for new ships as well as the SEEMP (Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan) for all ships. This was eventually for reducing GHG emissions from international shipping vessels, and has been effective since the 1st of January 2013 for ships weighing 400GT. Notably, at the 70th MEPC, the plan to develop a roadmap for the comprehensive IMO strategy on reducing GHGs from ships was approved, and as such, the plans including its short-term, mid-term and long-term measures have been arranged in order to adopt the pertinent strategy by 2023. Following the approved roadmap, at the 72 nd MEPC (April, 2018), the first stage of reducing GHG emissions from ships was selected/passed as the Initial IMO strategy for the reduction of GHGs from ships (henceforth Initial IMO GHG Strategy), and at the 73 rd MEPC (October, 2018), subsequent programs following the Initial IMO GHG Strategy were arranged. In this paper, the following issues will be introduced and discussed 1) the initial IMO strategy for the reduction of GHG from ships, 2) the contents of the 73 ~ 74 MEPC meeting regarding the follow-up actions related GHG reduction programs until 2023 to be executed (including specific matters concerning the execution of potential short-term, mid-term and long-term measures) 3) the GHG reduction strategies, GHG response policies of IMO member states and 4) finally, trends in technological developments for GHG reduction from ships.