Also Published As: Climate Change and Ships: Increasing Energy EfficiencyTo contribute towards the urgently needed reductions in global green house gas emissions, shipping needs to take responsibility for its own emissions. This summary of J. Rysst’s keynote at IMDC 2009 shows shipping CO2 emissions in a historical perspective, and outlines likely future emission scenarios. The background and status of various regulatory measures addressing CO2 emissions is outlined, with the status and ongoing developments at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Marine Environmental Protection Committee given particular attention. The proposed Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) is discussed, together with its potential impact on ship design and a likely implementation timeline. Measures to improve the energy efficiency for ships are outlined, together with possible log term effiiciency increase estimates.