The Industry Committee of the European Parliament adopted its report on the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), on October 13 and stressed that the climate impact of shipping should be regulated at UN level. The Committee therefore rejected the inclusion of shipping in the EU ETS.
According to the Danish Shipowners’ Association, this is a clear step in the right direction. Ahead of this important vote, several Members of the European Parliament had presented amendments which would have included shipping in the regional CO2 emission’s trading scheme of the EU. However, it was clear following the vote, that a large majority of the Committee believes shipping should be regulated globally.Since the shipping industry is truly global, regional rules in the EU would be a setback for the competitiveness of Danish and European shipowners
Conservative Member of the Industry Committee, Bendt Bendtsen believes that a regional solution would not result in the desired reduction of CO2 emissions since the majority of the world’s fleet would not be part of the EU’s proposal.
”Today’s vote is important because it sends a clear signal. The vote reflects that a regional approach would not be sustainable for shipping, and that in order to achieve significant CO2 reductions, we have to look beyond our borders. This of course also means that the eyes of the European Parliament are now set on the IMO,” Mr. Bendtsen says.
Focus is now on the maritime organisation of the UN, IMO, which meets late October to decide on how to reduce the CO2-emissions of shipping at the international level.
“We are satisfied that a large majority of politicians in the Committee supported that shipping should be regulated in the UN. The Industry Committee stressed that the EU will hold the IMO accountable on CO2, which the Danish Shipowners’ Association fully supports,” says Simon C. Bergulf, Director EU Affairs of the Danish Shipowners’ Association.
ECSA also supports the balanced report that calls upon the European Commission to monitor that international sectors contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement. This includes the shipping sector, where targets and measures are agreed at the level of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
“This is an important signal from the European Parliament and we fully agree that IMO now has to deliver a workplan and set a timeline for the further reduction of the sector’s CO2 emissions”, said ECSA Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven.
“IMO’s next Marine Environment Protection Committee, MEPC, meets two weeks from now and we expect that decisive steps will be taken. All mechanisms aimed at tackling CO2 emissions from shipping must remain global and apply equally to all ships”, he concluded.
The shipping industry has a mandatory global CO2 reduction regime which has been in force since 2013. IMO will now build on the substantial CO2 reductions already achieved by shipping, introducing a global CO2 data collection system, which will be operational by 2018. Based on the data collected and a real understanding of the emissions, realistic targets for CO2 emission reduction can be set for the sector.
The vote in the Industry Committee is the first step in the European Parliaments handling of the case. The next step is the Environment Committee’s opinion in December.
