NGOs say scheme would help cut emissions while generating $25 billion per year by 2020
Oxfam and WWF are lobbying politicians that a proposed deal to apply a “carbon price” to international shipping should be at the heart of the agreement at the UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, later this year. Publication of a report by the two NGOs is timed to put pressure on EU Environment Ministers at their meeting October. Oxfam and WWF say that EU support for the will be critical to breaking the international deadlock on shipping emissions that has lasted more than a decade.
A new joint report claims that applying a carbon price of $25 per tonne to bunkers would help cut emissions while generating $25bn per year by 2020. According to the NGOs the cash generated would be used both to compensate developing countries for marginally higher import costs that could result from the carbon price, and to provide more than $10bn per year to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF was established at last year’s UN climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, to channel funds for tackling climate change to developing countries but is currently empty.
The two organisation say that the EU could “broker a deal to tackle the huge and growing greenhouse gas emissions from ships and raise billions of dollars to help developing countries tackle climate change, without unfairly hitting their economies”.
The report, Out of the Bunker – Time for a fair deal on shipping emissions says the carbon price would only increase the costs of global trade by 0.2% – equivalent to just $2 for every $1,000 traded. South Africa whose import costs are projected to increase by 0.14 per cent as a result, would receive compensation of approximately $200m per year, while Bangladesh whose import costs are projected to increase by 0.19% would receive $40m per year, in addition to any revenues received from the Green Climate Fund. Oxfam and WWF argue that this money should be spent building the resilience of the poorest and most vulnerable people in each country.
Oxfam and WWF say: “The EU will be critical to brokering such an agreement. More than a decade of deadlocked discussions to reach a global agreement on aviation emissions led the EU to unilaterally include flights in and out of Europe in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. With that system poised to take effect in January, the Oxfam/WWF proposal calls for the EU to seize the opportunity presented by heightened awareness over international transport to push for a fair global deal on shipping that addresses all emissions from the sector, and does not unfairly hit the economies of developing countries. Co-ordinated EU leadership on this issue is needed ahead of the Durban conference. “
Tim Gore, Oxfam policy advisor on climate change and co-author of the report, says: “Our research shows it is possible to cut the massive greenhouse gas emissions from shipping without unfairly hitting developing countries, and to generate billions of dollars in new cash for climate action in poor countries in the process. The costs are affordable but the benefits for the planet and those most vulnerable to climate change are huge. It’s time for shipping to become part of the solution to tackling climate change, not a big part of the problem.”
Source: World Bunkering