Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has urged maritime industry players to contribute to addressing climate change by reducing carbon emissions in the shipping sector.
“The international shipping sector accounts for around two to three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, all maritime industry players need to play an active role in overcoming the climate change emergency," he said on Thursday.
He made the statement at a virtual international conference entitled “Shipping Decarbonization in Indonesia” organized by the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment and the Danish Maritime Authority.
The Indonesian government has issued a number of regulations on the implementation of Green Ship Strategies, Sumadi noted.
The regulations include the obligations to use low-sulfur fuel with a maximum sulfur level of 0.50 percent mass by mass (m/m), utilize scrubbers or Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS) on ships, and apply energy and fuel efficiency to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
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Furthermore, the government is also encouraging the rejuvenation of state-owned vessels, the use of eco-friendly solar-powered navigation devices, as well as the reporting of fuel consumption by all Indonesian-flagged vessels.
The minister said that Indonesia and Denmark have shown their bilateral commitment to address the issue of climate change, for instance, the two countries were involved in the preparation of bilateral and regional agreements to protect the marine environment from offshore exploitation in 2016.
Furthermore, in 2021, the two countries started to cooperate to implement various decarbonization efforts in the shipping sector.
"I hope that the Indonesia-Denmark cooperation can continue to be synergized with IMO's (International Maritime Organization’s) long-term projects, such as the GloFouling (Partnership) and blue solutions program to reduce carbon emissions in the shipping sector," Sumadi said.
The IMO has set a target of reducing carbon emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030 and reducing half of total greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Indonesia, as a member of the IMO, has a number of strategic international shipping lanes, thus, the country has a responsibility to encourage a greener and more sustainable shipping and marine environment.
The international conference on Thursday brought together a number of government officials and experts to share best practices and experiences on practical and innovative approaches to realize an eco-friendly shipping industry.
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