1 The Marine Environment Protection Committee,
at its fifty-sixth session (July 2007), agreed to the format for a
greenhouse gas (GHG) module in the Global Integrated Shipping Information
System (GISIS) based on the Interim Guidelines for Voluntary Ship
CO2 Emission Indexing for Use in Trials (MEPC/Circ.471).
2 IMO Assembly resolution
A.963(23) on “IMO Policies and Practices Related to the
Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships” urged the
Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) to identify and develop
the mechanism or mechanisms needed to achieve the limitation or reduction
of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping and,
in doing so, to give priority to the establishment of a GHG baseline;
and the development of a methodology to describe the GHG efficiency
of a ship in terms of GHG emission index for that ship. In developing
the methodology for the GHG emission indexing scheme, MEPC should
recognize that CO2 is the main greenhouse gas emitted by
ships.
3 As urged by the Assembly, MEPC 53 (July 2005)
approved Interim Guidelines for Voluntary Ship CO2 Emission
Indexing for Use in Trials (MEPC/Circ.471).
4 The Interim Guidelines should be used to establish
a common approach for trials on voluntary CO2 emission
indexing, which will enable shipowners to evaluate the performance
of their fleet with regard to CO2 emissions. As the amount
of CO2 emitted from a ship is directly related to the consumption
of bunker fuel oil, the CO2 indexing will also provide
useful information on a ship's performance with regard to fuel efficiency.
5 The Committee invites Members States to input
CO2 indexing data from voluntary trials into the GHG module
in GISIS. The procedures for inputting the data is available at the
IMO website (http://gisis.imo.org/Members/GHG).
6 The CO2 Index is used as an interim
monitoring index for energy efficiency of a ship in operation, limited
to efficiency expressed as CO2 emitted per unit of transport
work.
7 The format for a GHG module in GISIS is based
on the Interim Guidelines for Voluntary Ship CO2 Emission
Indexing for Use in Trials and is attached as annex to this circular.