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The chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), Esben Poulsson, has said that significant cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from shipping will be hard to achieve until alternative marine fuels become more widely available.

Speaking in Indonesia on Friday at The Economist magazine's World Ocean Summit, Poulsson set out what he says the industry wants the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to achieve as part of its CO2 reduction strategy for the shipping sector, but warned that any IMO goals that are sufficiently ambitious to allow shipping to play its part in achieving the United Nations two degree climate change target should also be realistic.

"Ambitious CO2 reduction objectives will only be achievable with alternative marine fuels which do not yet exist, although we are very confident that they will be available in the not-too-distant future," observed Poulsson.

ICS noted in a statement that widespread availability of alternative fuels - such as hydrogen or fuel cells - is not expected for at least another 20 or 30 years, whilst adding that the maritime sector's total CO2 has already been reduced by more than 10 percent between 2007 and 2012.

"Projections for trade growth - over which the industry has no control, due to population growth and improved global living standards - suggest that dramatic reductions in shipping's total CO2 will be difficult to achieve in the immediate future until alternative marine fuels become widely available," ICS added.

ICS also expressed its concerns that, unless the IMO makes "significant progress", the industry could be vulnerable to regional action, not only from the EU - which is considering incorporating shipping into the EU Emissions Trading System - but also from Canada or California, which have already introduced carbon pricing.

"We are confident IMO can adopt an ambitious strategy by 2018 matching the spirit of the Paris Agreement. However, IMO needs to agree a baseline year for peak CO2 emissions from shipping, as well as setting out some serious long-term aspirations for dramatically cutting the sector's total CO2 by the middle of the century," Poulsson said.

ICS urged the IMO to adopt objectives for the entire sector, not for individual ships, in the same way that governments have already agreed CO2 commitments for their national economies under the Paris Agreement.

The shipping association added that the IMO needs to agree a mechanism for delivery that it would like to see in place by 2023.

If IMO decides to develop a market-based measure (MBM), ICS stated that "the clear preference of the industry is for a bunker fuel levy".

ICS argued also that any CO2 reduction goals agreed by IMO must also address the legitimate and valid concerns of developing nations about the potential impacts on trade and sustainable development. According to the United Nations, 60 percent of maritime trade is now said to serve developing nations.