The President of the Marshall Islands Hilda Heine has renewed her country's call for the International Maritime Organisation to set a greenhouse gas target for the shipping industry.
The Marshall Islands has one of the world's three biggest shipping registries, but is also one of the countries most vulnerable to the threat of sea-level rise created by global warming
Shipping and aviation are the only two sectors not covered by the 2015 UN Paris Agreement on climate change, which sought to limit the increase in temperature to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Hellenic Shipping News reports that while the aviation sector agreed on an offsetting scheme to deliver 'carbon neutral' growth from 2020, the shipping industry has resisted setting any kind of carbon target.
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The Marshalls is campaigning for an ambitious target for the industry which accounts for around three percent of global carbon emissions.
Talks to agree a global climate deal at the IMO are to resume in July - the IMO reportedly expects to table a provisional greenhouse gas plan next year with a final strategy due in 2023.
President Heine's call came as signals emerge that France was backing proposals for a Mediterranean-wide emissions control zone for shipping.
The French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal revealed France was preparing to test drone-based emissions monitoring for ships later this year, and is developing a fuel calculator to help determine if a ship was compliant before it enters emission-restricted waters.
