REGULATING a worldwide trade that carries greater than 12bn tonnes of cargo yearly is about rather more than simply its emissions.
And but, it’s the decarbonisation problem that dominated the previous eight years for the Worldwide Maritime Group’s secretary-general Kitack Lim, and it’ll dominate the following eight years for his successor Arsenio Dominguez.
So, as Kitack settles in into retirement again in Seoul, the brand new SG is bracing himself for what guarantees to be a difficult tenure on the helm of shipping’s regulator.
The IMO could have pulled off what many thought politically inconceivable in 2023: a reputable — if unfinished — pathway to decarbonising shipping. However that simply make’s Dominguez’s job clearer, not simpler.
Whereas the ability to dealer a deal now largely resides amongst a handful of the IMO’s 175 member states, it’s the secretary-general who has to encourage, cajole, argue and — if crucial — drive agreements by any which method he can.
The distinction between an excellent and an ineffective secretary-general is in the end going to be measured by their capacity to safe agreements and Dominguez has a fearsome set of goals already set out in his job description.
The 2050 aspirational local weather targets set out this summer time had been simply adequate sufficient to proceed the talk, however the troublesome particulars but to be determined nonetheless have the potential to derail the IMO as an establishment.
Kitack’s method to get the IMO this far noticed him lead a measured march in direction of consensus through an amiable perception that stakeholder engagement held the important thing to unlocking most obstacles.
Dominguez arguably has the tougher job forward of him, given the politics of local weather financing and seemingly intractable geopolitical positions being agreed properly outdoors the sphere of the IMO’s affect.
