Originally published on Transport & Environment.
By Eoin Bannon
The European Parliament this week voted for ships to be required by EU law to cut their carbon emissions. MEPs said that for the first time shipping industry polluters must pay for their emissions in the EU carbon market. Green group Transport & Environment is calling on President Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission to quickly propose both the ship CO2 standards that the parliament has demanded and the inclusion of the sector in the emissions trading system (ETS).
Estraden Norsepower Hybrid Shipping Vessel. Image used with permission of Norsepower.
MEPs backed a -40% greenhouse gas efficiency target for shipping companies, to be reached gradually by 2030, as part of the revision of the EU’s monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system for ship emissions. They also said shipping companies must buy EU carbon permits for their pollution.
Faïg Abbasov, shipping programme manager at T&E, said: “The Parliament is tired of inaction in the face of steadily rising shipping emissions. This is a clear signal to President von der Leyen that the EU’s more ambitious 2030 climate target must apply to maritime emissions too and that ships must pay for all of their pollution in the EU carbon market.”
Ships should also be required to stop emitting harmful air pollutants and greenhouse gases when docked in Europe’s ports by 2030, MEPs said. They called for the monitoring system for shipping emissions to be made more transparent, too.
Today shipping is the only sector not yet subject to emission reduction targets or measures in the EU. The shipping industry’s carbon pollution has grown 10% in just six years and could increase 50% by 2050 if real action is not taken. This is mainly because maritime trade has grown more quickly than the efficiency of ships has improved.
Image of Estraden Norsepower, from related story: Hybrid Shipping: New Trends In Green Cargo Transport.
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