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International Protection and Environmental group Oceana has strongly criticized the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for what it refers to as its 'failure to discuss the application of limits on greenhouse gas emissions to the global shipping fleet.'

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) Meeting, taking place in London this week, is currently in the process of drawing up recommendations for design standards to make ships more efficient. It includes the implementation of operating standards to make ships more fuel efficient.

However, great progress is not expected on the idea of imposing a global levy on marine fuel used by ships, which environmentalists have been calling for.

In a statement, senior campaign director Jacqueline Savitz [pictured] said “Oceana is deeply troubled by the apparent decision of the IMO to formally side-step any discussion about the application of greenhouse gas requirements to ships.

"There is a clear need for mandatory requirements to control emissions that contribute to climate change. Ships are credited with releasing more than one billion pounds of carbon dioxide each year and could account for about 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally by 2050 under the business-as-usual scenario."

"The single most important action the IMO could have taken this week – in its last scheduled meeting prior to the Copenhagen Conference – is to fulfill its responsibility to regulate global warming pollution from ships. It appears that instead there will be continued discussion of measurement tools such as efficiency indices. The IMO committee did agree, after considerable debate, to discuss market based measures but only under the condition that the subject of whether the measures would be mandatory or voluntary is side-stepped.

"The IMO’s decision compromises its ability to fulfill its responsibilities, and necessitates the setting of an additional ‘intersessional’ meeting prior to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen this December. If the IMO is not up to the task, then other bodies such as the UNFCCC, the EU or other nations may need to take action.”