The International Maritime Organization

What could the International Maritime Organization be? Is it the governing body of yacht racing like FIFA is the boss of international football? 

No, it's a UN subsidiary that makes the rules for international commercial transport by sea. Its primary concern is safety but every aspect of marine activity falls under its domain. Pollution by oil tanker spills is a major topic. 

In 2015 the IMO took part in the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, advocating that they be the "appropriate international body to address greenhouse gas emissions from ships engaged in international trade". They made no rules on the subject until 2018 and were criticized for ignoring the GHG problem.

International shipping is said to produce 3% of the CO2 released into the world's atmosphere and the IMO and responsible parties aim to remedy this calamity. Carbon capture and storage of CO2 produced by ships' engines is now felt to be quite feasible, technically and economically, though its never been installed on a ship. An even bigger issue, however, is that no infrastructure exists to offload and dispose of the CCS held by ships when they arrive in port. These two factors indicate that a long and expensive route lies ahead in bringing oceanic CO2 to heel.

 

shipsandports.com,ng

"The CCS system uses an organic solution to extract the carbon dioxide, which is then cooled, liquefied and stored in a tank.

Laboratory tests have confirmed that the system can capture 85 per cent of the greenhouse gas from a ship engine’s exhaust gas flow, enabling the vessels to comply with the IMO’s carbon intensity reduction requirements...."

We don't know the details of this system but one thing we do know is that exhaust gases produced by the marine engines are very hot and cooling them will require much additional energy, probably adding significantly to the cost of transportation.

A Finnish company and the world's largest producer of ethanol are working to add the sugar cane product to the fuel of ocean-going ships as a means of reducing CO2 in engine exhausts.