Yesterday, the Federal Republic of Germany was the first country to join a Canadian initiative to establish green shipping corridors. State Secretary Dr Claudia Elif Stutz signed the multilateral Memorandum of Understanding at the sidelines of a bilateral high-level meeting in Ottawa. The joint objective is to further decarbonize shipping.

State Secretary Dr Claudia Elif Stutz:

Germany considers international cooperation vital in decarbonizing maritime shipping. We therefore support the adoption of globally binding measures at the International Maritime Organization as well as strong global partnerships to achieve true progress towards a sustainable and climate-friendly maritime sector as soon as possible. I would like to thank Canada for taking this initiative.

The signatory states affirm their common intention to promote international green shipping corridors between Eastern Canada (Halifax and Montreal, among others) and important ports in Europe, Asia and the Middle East in which climate-neutral technologies can be implemented in the future. The objective is to promote voluntary partnerships along the maritime value chain and accelerate the transition to climate-friendly shipping.

The topic of green shipping corridors is to be followed up with the National Action Plan for Climate-Friendly Shipping. The Federal Ministry of Transport will continue to fund climate-friendly shipping via the new ‘Climate-friendly shipping and ports’ title under the Climate and Transformation Fund.