Poor AOSIS showing on bunkers

The association of small island states (AOSIS) has today published a legal text as a formal proposal for the negotiations. The group has traditionally been at the forefront of efforts to tackle climate change, with an agreed position that measures should aim to keep warming below 1.5 degrees, and environment groups are supporting their most recent initiative. Unfortunately the proposal's text on GHG emissions from bunkers is entirely inadequate with the influence of a few small island states with open ship registries (i.e., flags of convenience) clearly evident in the drafting. In particular the proposal suggests that continuing technical and operational work at IMO will be sufficient, when clear targets and timelines for work at IMO must be agreed in Copenhagen, and reductions on the scale necessary will only be possible with a suite of measures that also includes market-based instruments. Bunkers are a huge potential source of revenues for climate change adaptation and mitigation, and it is a crying shame that the interests of a few small island states with large ship registries should have been put before the obvious adaptation needs of some of the most vulnerable countries.