By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) – More than 150 leading companies and organisations including oil majors and port authorities on Wednesday called for the global shipping industry to be fully decarbonised by 2050, urging governments to step up action warning time was limited.

The sector contributes nearly 3 percent of global CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Global shipping transports 90% of international trade.

UN’s shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization(IMO), stated that it aims reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG), emissions from ships by 50% by 2020 from 2008 levels. Industry groups however call for more government action.

Companies and organizations representing shipping, chartering and finance as well as fuel production, have announced that they believe stronger actions are required to meet climate targets set forth in the Paris agreement. This accord aims to reduce global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Hugo De Stoop is the chief executive of Euronav (NYSE): “The clock has ticked.”

Call to Action was developed by the World Economic Forum and the non-profit Global Maritime Forum. It stated that decarbonization in shipping can only be achieved “with the urgency, scale, and required” if the governments and regulators create the right policy frameworks.

“Policymakers have a unique opportunity to accelerate the process by introducing a worldwide carbon levy for marine fuels to incentivise investments in zero emission fuels and vessels,” stated Jeremy Weir (CEO of Trafigura).

A spokesperson for IMO stated that the UN agency has a clear plan of action, including discussions of additional measures to decrease GHG emissions from vessels. This would give member states the chance to “review the existing strategy and make proposals to achieve new goals”.

Other signatories of the initiative include A.P. Container Lines Moller – Maersk, MSC and Hapag Lloyd, oil majors BP (NYSE:) and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:), mining groups BHP and Rio Tinto (NYSE:), agri groups Cargill and Bunge (NYSE:) and others such as the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp as well as the Panama Canal Authority.