As featured in TradeWinds in July 2019, Tanker shipping veteran and long-term proponent of wind propulsion, Lars Carlsson, is proposing a campaign to shift shipowners toward net-zero emission status as the industry begins to get to grips with the IMO target for a 50% cut by 2050.

Carlsson, current director of Windship Technology, a former Managing Director of Concordia Maritime and Chairman of INTERTANKO, wants the industry to set up a World Shipping Board within the IMO to lead a push towards net-zero emissions.

The board, comprising up to 10 people, could “guide us through the coming years’ transition, with strong recommendations and executive power, by forcing authorities to legislate for immediate reduction of harmful emissions,” he argues in a letter to Trade Winds.
Carlsson, who is now a director at Windship Technology, suggests giving the board 100 votes at the IMO so it can propel legislation through the United Nations organisation for net zero emissions by 2040. Windship is a company developing wind sail rigs for bulkers and tankers aimed at cutting fuel use by 45%.
‘Inexcusable delay’
“Kitack Lim, the secretary general of IMO, has a lot of integrity if he could just escape from half of his 200 country delegates’ votes in IMO,” Carlsson writes.

“Net zero emissions in shipping can be achieved by a determined investment in carbon-neutral vessels. But any target of action as late as 2050 is an inexcusable delay, postponing necessary climate action to the next generation so that we in our generation can enjoy our life and our perks undisturbed by harsh realities,” he argues.

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Photo credit: Tradewinds