The Finnish Meteorological Institute, which falls under the administrative sector of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, is in a consortium which has taken on the task of updating the greenhouse gas emission report of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The aim of the update is to get information that is as detailed and up to date as possible on the real emissions from maritime transport.
The work involves ascertaining the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions between 2007 and 2012 and examining the amounts of emissions of greenhouse gases involving other parts of the structure, such as methane. In addition, emissions of other harmful substances, such as oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, fine particles, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons will also be evaluated in the study.
"Getting into the updating work of the IMO greenhouse gas report is an indication of Finland's high standard of knowledge in the field, of which we can be proud", says Minister of Transport Merja Kyllönen. "Those who were chosen for producing the report all have considerable scientific experience."
The work will be based on technical information from individual ships, for which reason annual fuel consumption figures reported by shipping companies can be used in the quality assurance of the modelling. Among the systems used in the update work will be Automatic Identification Systems (AIS and satellite AIS) and Long-Range Identification and Tracking systems (LRIT).
In addition to Finland, the consortium working on the report includes research institutes in Canada, China, Great Britain, Japan, The Netherlands and The United States. At the Finnish Meteorological Institute Finland's portion of the work is being directed by Senior Researcher, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, PhD.
The consortium has been set up and the drafting of the report will be supervised by a steering committee set up by IMO, whose members have been chosen in an equitable manner, with representation from different continents, and from developed and developing countries. Finland is one of four members representing Europe. Finland's representative on the steering committee is Anita Mäkinen, Chief Adviser at the Finnish Transport Safety Agency Trafi.
The study is scheduled for completion in 2014.
Further information
Ms Lolan Eriksson, Senior Government Adviser, Ministry of Transport and Communications, tel. +358 295 34 2493
Ms Anita Mäkinen, Chief Adviser, Finnish Transport Safety Agency Trafi, tel. +358 40 162 4592
Mr Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, Senior Researcher, Finnish Meteorological Institute, tel. +358 50 919 5455 (most easily reached 24. October)
