Caribbean Urged to Unify for Sustainable Shipping: Addressing GHG Emissions in IMO Negotiations

Barbados and other Caribbean states could find themselves in rough waters economically unless they fully join forces and secure the region’s interests in ongoing global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships.

Dr Jan Yves Remy, director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, has flagged the issue as one in need of urgent attention and requiring the Caribbean to get on board with a unified position.

She is leading Caribbean Shipping Lanes, an SRC project supported by the United Nations Foundation. The initiative aims to provide technical support to Caribbean countries engaged in ongoing negotiations at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to implement an agreed strategy to reduce GHG emissions from ships.

“The intended measures under the strategy – comprising both technical and economic elements – will be adopted in April 2025 and brought into effect in October 2025,” Remy says.

“I am sure you understand the grave economic importance of these IMO negotiations to the region, both because of our climate vulnerability and our absolute dependence on shipping for our main economic sectors.”

She noted: “Several Caribbean countries have been individually participating in these negotiations, but to date, the region has not taken a unified approach to many of the critical issues on the table.

Belize and Jamaica are reported to have taken a leading role, with support from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.

“At the last set of dedicated IMO meetings held in London in September-October this year, those participating CARICOM delegations provided spirited representation on the issues,” Remy shared.

She added, however, that “it became apparent that the time has come for the region to discuss these matters jointly and secure the necessary technical support and political buy-in”.

The SRC has prepared a high-level briefing note in which it advises that “once adopted by the IMO in 2025 and upon entering into force in 2027, these measures will have significant economic implications for small island developing states (SIDS) like those in the Caribbean, which are highly dependent on maritime shipping for access to the global economy, trade, and employment in shipping and related sectors”.