OTTAWA - The Canadian government is on board with an international proposal passed this week to force the shipping industry to cut its emissions in half by the middle of the century.
The International Marine Organization is also directing its policy-makers to craft a document to ban heavy fuel oil -- known as the dirtiest fuel source on the planet -- from being used in the Arctic, while taking into account the impacts of such a ban on Arctic communities.
Although Canada has been publicly quiet about its position in the debate over shipping emissions that went on this week in London, the government ultimately supported the proposal to require ships in international waters to reduce emissions to 50 per cent below what they were in 2008 by mid-century.
Only the United States and Saudi Arabia voted against the idea.
Canada pushed for a phase-down rather than an outright ban on heavy fuel oil while the impact on the Arctic is addressed, as the fuel is less than half the cost of other options and replacing it could raise already high prices for food and supplies in the North
International shipping emissions are not assigned to individual countries and were omitted from the Paris climate change agreement, as the marine organization pledged to deal with the matter on its own.
