The Republic of Korea and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have signed an agreement to establish a training programme to help developing states to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping.
This will facilitate the implementation of candidate measures to be adopted by the IMO and the development of national action plans to reduce GHG emissions from the shipping and ports sectors.
The Sustainable Maritime Transport Training Programme (GHG-SMART) will focus on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It will help them to develop their capacity to achieve the goals set out in the initial IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships which envisages reducing total annual GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008.
The strategy recognises that there are potential barriers to achieving the targets and highlights the need for supportive measures, including capacity building, technical cooperation, technology transfer and research and development (R&D), particularly in developing countries.
The four-year GHG-SMART programme will address gaps in technologies and policies by building knowledge and capacity in those countries to identify ways to effectively implement measures contained in the IMO strategy. This will be complemented by support and training to develop and implement national action plans.
Training packages will be developed to cover a range of activities, including analysis and review of current policies, update on IMO regulations, how to develop national action plans, training of trainers to implement specific measures such as data collection, sharing of information and best practices.
