Another day, another issue for trace gas obsessed climate worriers who want a ‘clean-up’. We’re informed that ‘Campaigners say huge improvements in CO2 emissions from existing ships can easily be made by obliging them to travel more slowly’. No absurdity is too great to be considered.
Next: horse-drawn barges?
The industry could contribute almost a fifth of the global total of CO2 by 2050 but some nations resist targets, says BBC News.
A battle is under way to force the global shipping industry to play its part in tackling climate change.
A meeting of the International Maritime Organisation in London next week will face demands for shipping to radically reduce its CO2 emissions.
If shipping doesn’t clean up, it could contribute almost a fifth of the global total of CO2 by 2050.
A group of nations led by Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India, Panama and Argentina is resisting CO2 targets for shipping. Their submission to the meeting says capping ships’ overall emissions would restrict world trade. It might also force goods on to less efficient forms of transport.
This argument is dismissed by other countries which believe shipping could actually benefit from a shift towards cleaner technology.
The UK’s Shipping Minister Nusrat Ghani told BBC News: “As other sectors take action on climate change, international shipping could be left behind.
“We are urging other members of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to help set an ambitious strategy to cut emissions from ships.”
Trade and prosperity
The UK is supported by other European nations in a proposal to shrink shipping emissions by 70%-100% of their 2008 levels by 2050.
Guy Platten from the UK Chamber of Shipping said: “We call on the global shipping industry to get behind these proposals – not just because it is in their interests to do so, but because it is the right thing to do.
“The public expects us all to take action, they understand that international trade brings prosperity, but they rightly demand it is conducted in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. We must listen to those demands, and the time for action is now.”
Continued here […if you can bear it].
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
I think I’ll invent a wind-powered ship. I’ll patent the idea and call it a sailing ship. Back to the future my lads.
This article is a good example of the policies for appearances, against policies focussed on achieving a net beneficial outcome. From the article.
The developing nations are pointing out potential adverse consequences of policy. The UK’s Shipping Minister is pointing out that failure to push through policy will result in a lot of tut-tutting from certain politicians, UN bodies and climate activist organisations.
They may turn to the biofuel non-solution – still burning fuel, still producing CO2.
Well I’m a member of the public and I don’t demand any of what he says I demand. Is he lying then?
Phoenix – there’s always someone on the run from the thought police 😉
In contemporary usage the term Thought Police often refers to the actual or perceived enforcement of ideological orthodoxy in the political life of a society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Police
@Phillip B:
I think you are on to something!
To make it “sustainable” and further reduce CO2 production the fabrication, you can make your “Sailing Ship” from wood, and use canvas for the sail material!
Not only that, but by replacing rare earth magnet motors with people for sail hoisting and positioning, you would simultaneously Save The Planet from Running Out!!!! Oh Noes!!!” of minerals, the scourge to Mother Earth of scarring her face with mining, and enable more employment!
Win – win – win – win!!
I suggest naming this super-ship the Clipper Ship…
Of course the cost of goods shipped might need to rise a lot, but that would just further discourage consumption and the attendant human caused destruction of Gaia… so it’s a good thing…
Being a peg in the public, government officials have never listened to my demands, which is MYOB by finding something better to do with your petty life. If its that important to these rat-tailed officials, they can jolly well learn how to engineer a better solution and make it so profitable the world will change of its own accord.
Marine diesels (Wärtsilä) already run at up to 50% thermal efficiency.
More improvements are still possible, yet the green Luddites want to cripple World trade.
Isn’t that what they are complaining that Trump wants to do?
In the article the greens were suggesting that the ships should sail at a slower speed to save fuel, though they quoted no figures for this, nor did they consider that may necessitate an increase in the number of ships on the oceans.
The answer is easy of course, small nuclear power plants as used in submarines and ice breakers. Or a large wheel that green volunteers can walk round like a rodent exercise wheel thus powering the ship.
Let me guess, supported by the ship-building industry & the major shipping line? New ships will meet emission requirements, ships that the majors can afford, the minors can’t. Drive the minors out of business.
Hybrid ships already exist e.g. this Scottish ferry.
The hybrid diesel electric propulsion system of the ship reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20% compared with the use of a diesel mechanical propulsion system. The ferry is capable of operating solely on batteries on some crossings and on port.
http://www.ship-technology.com/projects/mv-hallaig-hybrid-ferry/
Hybrid vessels: here to stay, or fleeting trend?
“The most suitable vessels for hybrids are ferries, really,” explains DNV GL’s director of battery services and products, Narve Mjøs.
http://www.ship-technology.com/features/featurehybrid-vessels-here-to-stay-or-fleeting-trend-5769261/
Talking about horse drawn barges. The floating community will be on the list of Co2 offenders and will shortly be asked to cut emissions. Diesel engines are common and might not be allowed to sail through some City centres. Meanwhile Termite mounds are pushing out more Co2 than all of us put together but no one has said they have to cut back.
“I suggest naming this super-ship the Clipper Ship…”
I suggest that after some years of erratic delivery schedules these ships will be replaced with much larger vessels incorporating paddle wheel propulsion powered by a novel new technology called “Steam Power”…
Another smelly one cooked up by the predictably sly busybody Harrabin
I’m still working on my scheme, including all the good ideas given above. I am now working on the wind powered refrigeration unit to stop fresh food from going off during the weeks spent in the doldrums – oh dear, back to the drawing board, I now need a renewable energy storage system.
@ Philip Bratby – If you combine wind AND solar to power the refrigeration unit, your problems will be solved. After all, well known green troll “sod” (formerly of Pierre Goselin’s blog, and now making appearances at Energy Matters) had this to say on Euan’s Energiewende post today:
“Isn’t it wonderful to see, how wind and solar balance each other over the full year?”
There are none so blind as those who will not see..
If ships were forced to go slower it would just mean more ships were needed, so that idea looks doomed from the start.
But then we can delight in using the old maritime phase of events/freight/feelings “being in the doldrums”.
oops that should be phrase (I got out of phase)
The view from onboard
http://splash247.com/fatuous-unrealistic-unnecessary/
Despite splash247…
ENVIRONMENT APRIL 13, 2018
U.N. shipping agency reaches deal to cut CO2 emissions
The compromise plan, which will cut emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared with 2008 levels, fell short of more ambitious targets.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-imo-emissions/u-n-shipping-agency-reaches-deal-to-cut-co2-emissions-idUKKBN1HK20F