The 2024 Annual Disclosure Report, from the Sea Cargo Charter (SCC) a global transparency initiative developed by the Global Maritime Forum, has found that the shipping industry is falling behind on climate goals and must take “urgent action” if it is to meet new climate targets set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Indeed, the Sea Cargo Charter report outlined that dry bulk, general cargo, and tankers already account for around 400 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, and global trade is predicted to quadruple by 2050, meaning that emissions will shoot up dramatically if real change is not made across the industry.
This year, for the first time, SCC signatories chose to voluntarily report against “much stricter criteria,” including the IMO’s revised GHG Strategy, introduced in July 2023.
Reporting was also expanded to include “well-to-wake” emissions, which measure emissions from the extraction of oil to its end use.
In the report, it was found that the sector fell short of minimum international climate goals set by the IMO by an average of 17 per cent in 2023, equivalent to 165 million metric tonnes of CO2e.
On the ‘striving’ goals set by the IMO, signatories were, on average, 22 per cent misaligned, which represents a shortfall of 204 million metric tonnes of CO2e in 2023.
However, the number of SCC signatories has grown to 37 in 2024, 35 of which are reporting this year, while the average reporting percentage has shown a steady increase over the past three years, from 80 per cent in 2022 to 93.2 per cent.
From next year, shipowners will also be fully able to form part of the annual report.
Read the full report here.