Outcome of MEPC 81

Member States at the IMO have agreed a possible structure of the legal provisions for the “basket” of technical and economic elements to implement the mid-term GHG reduction measures for international shipping that are scheduled to be adopted by IMO next year including a possible new chapter 5 of MARPOL Annex VI “Regulations on the IMO net-zero framework”.

Key policy issues remain to be resolved including further work on the trajectory of reduction of GHG intensity need for a global GHG fuel standard and the operationalisation of the Guidelines on life cycle GHG intensity of marine fuels (LCA Guidelines). 

Regarding the issue of the carriage of biofuels for supply to a ship for use as fuel oil on board that ship. The matter has been forwarded to the IMO Working Group on Evaluation of Safety and Pollution Hazards, ESPH 30, to be held in October, for further consideration and with a view to advising MEPC on the way forward.

Amendments to MARPOL Annex VI were adopted included providing an amended definition of “fuel oil” and a new definition for “gas fuel”.  Additionally, joint MSC-MEPC guidelines for the sampling of fuel oil for determination of compliance with MARPOL Annex VI and SOLAS Chapter II-2 were approved subject to concurrent approval by MSC 108 (May 2024).

Outcomes from MEPC 81 will be further discussed during the Members’ Meeting on 26 March 2024.