GreenVoyage2050

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The GreenVoyage2050 Project is a partnership project  between the Government of Norway and IMO launched in May 2019 aiming to transform the shipping industry towards a lower carbon future. The global partnership is supporting developing countries, including Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), in meeting their commitment towards relevant climate change and energy efficiency goals, for international shipping, through supporting the Initial IMO GHG Strategy.



IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim (right) and Mr Sveinung Oftedal, Specialist Director of the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, signed the GreenVoyage2050 Project Agreement. The project directly responds to the need to provide technical assistance to States, support technology transfer and promote green technology uptake to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions throughout the maritime sector.


Key Goals

Using tools developed, applying lessons learned from previous interventions and strategically linking with other on-going global initiatives, the IMO-Norway GreenVoyage2050 Project is expanding government and port management capacities to undertake legal and policy reforms, develop National Action Plans, catalyze private sector partnerships, promote innovation, enable technology transfer and deliver pilot demonstration projects to facilitate technology uptake, all through a broad range of coordinated actions by a number of Pioneer Pilot Countries (PPC), New Pilot Countries (NPC), industry partners and strategic partners at national, regional and global levels.

Initially 12 countries from 6 high priority regions (Asia, Africa, Black Sea / Caspian Sea, Caribbean, Latin America and Pacific) are taking pilot roles in the respective regions to champion the national actions. Pilot countries will subsequently help catalysing a regional momentum by supporting other partnering countries in their respective region to follow the path.

One of the important aims of GreenVoyage2050 is to spur global efforts to demonstrate and test technology solutions. Private sector participation is achieved through enhancing the existing Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping with new partners from the maritime sector. Also, partnerships with ongoing programmes are being explored with a view to draw upon the results of such programmes to encourage phasing in of zero and low-emission solutions for shipping in developing countries.


 

The Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping (Low Carbon GIA) is a public-private partnership initiative of IMO under the framework of the GreenVoyage2050 Project.


Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping 

The Low Carbon GIA was originally established in 2017 under the GEF-UNDP-IMO GloMEEP Project. Following the completion of the GloMEEP Project in December 2019, the Low Carbon GIA was re-established and continues to operate under the framework of the IMO-Norway GreenVoyage2050 Project. The Low Carbon GIA aims to bring together maritime industry leaders to support an energy efficient and low carbon maritime transport system. Leading shipowners and operators, classification societies, engine and technology builders and suppliers, big data providers, oil companies and ports have joined hands under the Low Carbon GIA to collectively identify and develop innovative solutions to address common barriers to the uptake and implementation of energy efficiency technologies, operational best practices and alternative low- and zero-carbon fuels. Find out more about the Low Carbon GIA here.


Funding

This global project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment for an initial period from May 2019 to December 2023 (NOK 64.5 million) with plans for further funding beyond 2023, for a scaling-up this project. 


Components 

The project includes four main components as follows:

Component 1 - Developing global tools to support implementation of the Initial IMO GHG Strategy
Component 2 - Capacity building, policy and NAP development
Component 3 - Strategic partnership development
Component 4 - Technology cooperation, innovation and pilot demonstrations

Full details on the components of the GreenVoyage2050 Project can be found on the dedicated Project Website.


Background

GreenVoyage2050 builds upon two IMO projects that may be regarded as baseline projects in this area:

  1. GEF-UNDP-IMO GloMEEP Project (Global Maritime Energy Efficiency Partnerships): From November 2016 to December 2019 this project supported developing countries in implementing IMO energy efficiency requirements for ships (MARPOL Annex VI). GloMEEP successfully established the Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping (GIA), a public-private partnership between IMO and 15 leading maritime companies that are collectively identifying and developing innovative solutions to address common barriers to the uptake and implementation of energy efficiency technologies and operational measures.
  2. EU-IMO GMN Project (Capacity Building for Climate Mitigation in the Maritime Shipping Industry): Established 5 Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs), with strong regional dimensions, each in a leading maritime developing country in each target region. MTCCs act as centres of excellence, promoting the uptake of low carbon technologies and operations in maritime transport. GMN is due for completion end of 2020. 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides a shared blueprint for prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are an urgent call for action in a global partnership. Among the SDGs, SDG 14 is central to IMO, but the work of IMO and GreenVoyage2050 can also be linked to other SDGs, as can be seen below.