Korea Maritime Week - Ministerial Conference 2023
Korea Maritime Week - Ministerial Conference 2023
"Decarbonization. MASS. Digitalization"
Wednesday 14 June 2023
Opening of the Conference - Mr. Kitack Lim, Secretary-General, IMO
Minister, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to address you during at the opening of the Ministerial Conference during the Korea Maritime Week. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Government of the Republic of Korea for providing a forum for the maritime community to discuss the main policy issues of the maritime sector.
Even at what is clearly a time of many global challenges and uncertainties, every day, the international shipping industry works efficiently and effectively to keep the wheels of global trade in motion and ensure that the goods we all rely on are delivered on time, to their destinations all around the world. Making shipping vital for the global economy.
Shipping is experiencing what is surely an unprecedented time of transformation addressing its obligations to contribute its share towards combatting climate change, while simultaneously incorporating the newest technologies in the strive towards digitalization and automation. We can only successfully navigate this major transition and respond to the ever-evolving needs of a green and sustainable maritime sector if all maritime stakeholders work together. IMO is the global forum to facilitate these partnerships and collaborations, as the global standard setting body for shipping, ensuring that the maritime sector delivers goods safely, securely, efficiently, and sustainably. Collaboration is the backbone of all IMO’s efforts and our successes. I would like to express my deepest appreciation and thank to IMO Member States and maritime stakeholders for their unfaltering support for IMO’s work.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In the spirit of collaboration, the maritime community is uniting to combat climate change, ready to play its part in the global efforts to achieve the goals set in the Paris Agreement. However, this amounts to the biggest challenge the sector has ever faced - the decarbonization of international shipping.
IMO has already made considerable progress in our efforts to reduce the Greenhouse Gas emission from international shipping, constantly strengthening our energy efficiency measures over the last 10 years, all supported by the adoption of the Initial IMO GHG Strategy in 2018.
This year is crucial. We now have less than one month to showcase our global leadership towards decarbonizing shipping by adopting an upgraded IMO Decarbonization Strategy.
The strategy contains three vital elements: First, the strategy will contain an enhanced vision and levels of ambition with concrete reduction targets. Second, it will outline a basket of technical and economic measures including a timeline for their implementation. The economic measures, currently under consideration will be crucial to close the gap between conventional and alternative fuels and to generate funds to incentivise investment in technology and R&D, but also to address any disproportionate negative impacts on developing States. Only with economic measure will we be able to ensure our goal of a just and equitable transition. And third, this will be supported by an impact assessment of agreed measures to address their impacts on developing countries, in particular SIDS and LDCs. IMO Member States must be ambitious and bold enough to elevate the strategy’s vision and levels of ambition towards 2050 to provide certainty for stakeholders to invest in shipping, new fuels and infrastructure and most importantly, ensure that no one is left behind. The Seoul Declaration towards Green Shipping Transition by 2050 to be adopted at this ministerial conference is a very clear and encouraging signal to the maritime community and I would like to thank the Government of the Republic of Korea for initiating this effort.
The effects of the discussions at IMO are already visible. Across the globe, I see a strong willingness and commitment to work in partnership with all stakeholders to make a push towards the energy transition in shipping. There are increasing numbers of R&D initiatives worldwide on low- and zero-carbon alternative fuels for shipping, and examples of technological innovation, with hydrogen and ammonia vessels in pilot stages. And the Republic of Korea is also carrying out several research projects in new technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration, which are just as important to support this transition. I sincerely appreciate the input that has been provided so far on this matter to the Organization and look forward to further development.
IMO must ensure that this ambitious transition is just and equitable by supporting developing countries, in particular SIDS and LDCs. IMO’s is developing partnerships with governments and industry to facilitate resource mobilization, but also financial institutions to catalyze financial flows to the maritime sector.
Through our global long-term projects, are promoting inclusive innovation, and supporting trials and pilots with a focus on technology deployment and green maritime infrastructure.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Shipping has undergone many successful transitions. And I am certain that with ambitious and feasible decisions agreed through collaboration and consensus building at IMO, we will successfully navigate the energy transition. Partnerships, collaboration and dialogue are the trademarks of IMO and will be more important than ever. IMO will continue to play its role as the global forum for international shipping to facilitate collaboration of all stakeholders of the maritime ecosystem from shipping and ship building, shippers and seafarers, the energy industry and bunkering services, to financial institutions and insurance. So that together, we can realize IMO’s ambitious goals to lead shipping into a decarbonized and sustainable future.
I wish you a successful Korea Maritime Week and look forward to the upcoming discission that will surely provide further input to IMO's work.
Thank you.