2023 Core Training Summary
March 11, 2023
The IMO-Republic of Korea Sustainable Maritime Transport Core Training Programme (GHG-SMART) was held online from 6 to 10 March 2023. The online, core training is
The Sustainable Maritime Transport Training Programme (GHG SMART) aims to support the implementation of the IMO GHG Strategy by initiating capacity building activities for the least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS) through a series of training courses. LDCs and SIDS are significantly impacted by climate change and are economically reliant on their maritime transport while at the same time may lack capacities to address maritime decarbonization related issues in line with IMO rules, as well as to benefit from potential opportunities of it for their economies.
Funded by the Republic of Korea (RoK) and implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), GHG SMART’s main goal is to address this capacity-building need and support LDCs and SIDS with the implementation of the IMO GHG Strategy via building sufficient human capacity in these countries. This includes development of a comprehensive training programme and post-training monitoring, evaluation, and refinement.
LDCs and SIDS are annually invited to nominate delegations to benefit from an annual training programme, which consists of a virtual fundamental training, individual training plans and assignments for each participant and an in-person practical training, combined with a field visit and familiarization with industry in the Republic of Korea. National maritime GHG emissions champions are trained by Subject Matter Experts (SME) on all aspects of the implementation of the IMO GHG Strategy, enabling them to actively engage in policy making, develop National Action Plans and raise finance to implement these plans and other specific investment needs related to maritime decarbonizations.
The GHG SMART Programme includes three (3) major activities that are implemented during the year and takes the participants through a number of learning experiences. These major steps are:
CORE TRAINING: This training is conducted online over 5 half-days and covers the fundamental aspects of maritime decarbonization.
TSTP ENGAGEMENT: Trainee Structured Training Plan (TSTP) is a self-developed plan by each participant that would ensure their engagement in related activities in their own country for the period of training and beyond.
PRACTICAL TRAINING COMBINED WITH INDUSTRY VISITS: This is a face-to-face training that is heavily concentrated on case studies and hands-on exercises plus a significant number of industry visits. Both of these activities take place during one week and in the Republic of Korea.
The diagrams below indicate the full package of the training programme:
The Core Training comprises of a number of modules as indicated in the diagram on the right.
Within these modules, the following topics are covered:
Under Practical Training and Industry visits, the practical aspects of the above will be tried or viewed via one week participation in events in the Republic of Korea.
All GHG SMART Training Material can be accessed by IMO’s Moodle Platform. All participants have full access to this platform. Other interested developing countries can submit their request to access IMO’s Moodle Platform and freely access the training material, following an email request sent to ghg-smart@imo.org
Antigua and Barbuda
Belize
Cook Islands
Guyana
Marshall Islands
St. Kitts & Nevis
Tonga
Burkina Faso
Ethiopia
Malawi
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Togo
Uganda
Yemen
Dominica
Jamaica
Madagascar
Maldives
Seychelles
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
Vanuatu
Angola
Bangladesh
Benin
Liberia
Republic of Tanzania
Comoros
The Solomon Islands
The IMO-Republic of Korea Sustainable Maritime Transport Core Training Programme (GHG-SMART) was held online from 6 to 10 March 2023. The online, core training is
CORE Training will be taking place from the 27th Feb–3rd March 2023
The 2022 GHG SMART Practical Training and Study Visit was held from 19 to 23 September 2022 in Busan, Republic of Korea. The programme was
The overall objective of the Programme is to support the implementation of the IMO GHG strategy by building sufficient capacity among the LDCs and SIDS to prepare for implementation the Strategy, first by building capacity for identifying ways to address the potential impacts of the measures contained in the Strategy and then by building capacity to develop a national action plan to implement these measures.
The GHG-SMART Programme delivers a series of carefully targeted training aimed at selected representatives of LDCs and SIDS who will take a lead in undertaking analysis of impacts and national strategy development related to maritime GHG emissions in the respective countries. Expected outcomes are it will help them to develop their knowledge and capacity to achieve the goals set out in the Initial IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships and enhance the implementation within their countries.
The Programme has been strategically linked to the ongoing and proposed major projects implemented by IMO to achieve GHG emissions reduction. These include the Global MTTC Network (GMN) project, funded by the European Union, which unites Maritime Technologies Cooperation Centres (MTCCs) in targeted regions into a global network; and the GreenVoyage2050 Project , a partnership project between the Government of Norway and IMO, which is working with 12 pilot countries in different regions to meet climate change and energy efficiency goals related to international shipping. There is also cooperation with the World Maritime University (WMU) for technical input, and IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme (ITCP).
The Programme aims to support at least 4 training year cycles, training at least 100 future climate change champions in maritime from SIDS and LDCs, providing them individual training, noting their specific needs, next to providing them with an overview of specific implementation of the IMO GHG Strategy.
Participants in the GHG-SMART programme will also be granted the opportunity to submit applications to WMU for a relevant scholarship. This will be awarded annually from the 2023 for two (2) participants, one male and one female in line with 50%-50% gender equality, who can further deepen their knowledge in this field.
Against this background, the development of a Global Training Programme for Maritime GHG reduction to support the vision of a sustainable maritime sector for sustainable planet was proposed by the Republic of Korea (RoK) for the IMO Secretariat’s consideration and the agreement was established in October 2020.
Participants come from a range of different stakeholders, including policy makers, public authorities, and industry (shipping, ports and ship building). To maintain the effectiveness of the programme for the longer term, participants are carefully selected and their follow-up actions towards implementation of the policy and strategies are regularly monitored. The Programme is delivered as a series of one-week (5 days) training which consists of online training, delivery of a classroom training course, followed by technical site visits.
The Initial IMO GHG Strategy envisages reducing the total annual GHG emissions from ships by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008, meaning a reduction in carbon intensity for individual ships and a move to new technologies and low/zero carbon fuels. The Initial Strategy also aims, with equal importance, at addressing potential impacts of the actions and measures on the Member States. A number of specific measures are under consideration to achieve the ambitious targets.
The strategy recognizes that there are potential barriers to achieving the targets and highlights the need for supportive measures, including capacity building, technical cooperation, technology transfer and research and development, particularly in developing countries with a focus on least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing States (SIDs) since the impact could be uneven and disproportionate among States.
It is still argued, by the LDCs and SIDS, that the impact of measures in consideration has not been adequately addressed while the discussion on GHG reduction measures is being progressed at IMO. Supporting actions to address the impacts and for facilitating technology cooperation for transfer and uptake of energy efficient technologies are vital and urgent, since the gaps in technology and policies are considerable between developed countries and the LDCs and SIDS. Considerable efforts have been made by the IMO Secretariat to develop and provide technical cooperation projects and activities in the maritime environment sector.