24 September 2009: This year’s World Maritime Day highlights climate change as a key issue for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the shipping industry.
On the occasion of the World Maritime Day, IMO launched Climate Change: a challenge for IMO too!, a short DVD film, which highlights the current situation of the world’s international merchant fleet with regard to its energy efficiency and carbon footprint, as well as the challenges faced by IMO in its efforts to effectively control greenhouse gas emissions from ships engaged in international trade. In his message to the international maritime community, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said that now was the time to make tough decisions to address climate change, and to act with total and undivided commitment. He highlighted work done to address greenhouse gas emissions to date, and concluded that humanity’s response to the multi-faceted problems climate change represents has become the “defining challenge of our age.” [IMO press release]
