09:33 Mike Kane (Labour)

We are obliged by MARPOL to control emissions, and our reputation as a maritime nation could be damaged if we fail in that quest. As we come out of lockdown, the effects of climate change are being seen and felt globally. Last year, my constituency was flooded, and the news channels show us wildfires in Europe and across the globe—nothing could more strongly make the case for a green recovery, rooted in decarbonisation and climate justice.

We know what we need to do, and we must start to do it now. Our maritime sector, which is often overlooked, has a crucial role to play, and with the COP26 UN climate change conference imminent, now is the time for us to look ahead and consider a greener future for the industry.

Do the proposals go far enough? I would argue that, in revitalising the maritime sector, we could unlock tens of thousands of jobs across the UK, with many of them green jobs and, very importantly, concentrated in our neglected coastal communities. I had the great honour of visiting the port of Hull a couple of months ago, and cycled from the train station to meet the chief executive in the port, passing the Siemens wind turbine factory. It was a sight to behold, with tens of thousands of highly paid, unionised jobs decarbonising our economy in the heart of a previously neglected coastal community.

It is time for Government action. Decarbonisation and the rebalancing of our economy are possible, and UK maritime, with its wealth of talent and expertise, has shown time and again its ability to generate enormous value. This is a fantastic opportunity for our country, as there is no clear global leader setting the pace to develop zero emission shipping technology, and if Ministers are prepared to act quickly and invest, the UK can become a scientific and green technological superpower, bringing jobs and prosperity to our communities around our coast. However, there is no time to lose.

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09:41 Richard Thomson (Gordon) (SNP)

Speaking more broadly, in particular in the year of COP26, the environmental impact of heating and our industrial and transportation requirements are clearly the next areas that we need to focus on to reduce our environmental impact on the planet. Rightly, there is a focus on decarbonisation, but carbon is not the only emission to harm our planet and quality of life. Shipping is a key part of that. Reducing the environmental impact of shipping as we move goods around the globe is clearly a huge part of the positive impact that we can make by reducing emissions. The draft legislation is significant in that, and we are happy to support it.

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09:44 Robert Courts

Earlier this week, we announced that we will be pushing for a zero emissions target for international shipping at the IMO. We will be challenging the international community collectively. The hon. Member for Cardiff West asked me what the UK is doing to push this forward; that is what we are doing, and it was announced a couple of days ago. We are pushing the international community to deliver a Paris-compliant outcome when the IMO renegotiates its strategy for climate change in 2023. So, that is our international work.

We have built on the clean maritime plan itself. We had the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan in November 2020. We have had the clean maritime demonstration competition, which I referred to earlier, and we will have the results of that later this week. Overarching all this is the transport decarbonisation plan, building on the clean maritime plan and developing our plans to navigate this tricky-to-decarbonise sector, all the way to net zero. There will be a series of consultations in the coming years as we build towards that.

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