The industry currently contributes nearly 3% of global emissions….reports Asian Lite News
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a strategy to achieve net zero emissions in the shipping industry by 2050.
Speaking at the International Maritime Organisation’s meeting, he emphasized the need for science-based targets by 2030 and urged consensus among member states.
The industry currently contributes nearly 3% of global emissions.
“I urge you to leave London having agreed a Greenhouse Gas Strategy that commits the sector to net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest,” Guterres said in a video message.
The session aims to set carbon-neutral goals for 2050 with interim targets for 2030 and 2040. Efforts to align with the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius remain a challenge, but the IMO is hopeful for progress during the meeting.
Low emission investments in APAC
India and China are expected to drive the investment in low carbon emissions in the Asia Pacific Region (APAC), Moody’s Investor’s Service said in a report.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that India will spend $53 billion and $87 billion of average annual investment in 2021-25 and 2026-30, respectively, to achieve the Stated Policy Scenario (STEPS) trajectory of emissions reductions, while China will spend $239 billion and $210 billion during the same period, Moody’s said.
Moody’s added that bulk of the estimated investment will be allocated to clean energy and related projects.
Growing availability of green finance, underpinned by diversifying funding channels and manageable costs, will bolster power companies’ energy transition and support their sizable financing requirements, the credit rating agency said in the report.
Sustainable bonds, green loans, project bonds, and green funds are common in the sustainable finance plans of APAC’s power utilities.
“We expect the renewable energy sector will continue to steer growth in sustainable bond markets given the governments’ decarbonisation commitments. Thermal power companies with well-defined energy transition strategies can potentially tap transition finance,” Moody’s said.
“Coal-fired companies in the region face rising carbon transition risk but funding risk will be lower for utilities with credible transition plans. In the medium term, coal fired power will remain critical to many power sectors in the region,” the report noted.