The Liberian Registry is opposing a European Parliament proposal to implement a separate emissions-trading scheme (ETS) for shipping.
The European Union is proposing to expand its carbon market to include emissions from voyages made within the bloc, along with those in international waters that start or finish in an EU port.
Under this plan, shipowners and operators would need to buy EU carbon permits to cover emissions arising from these voyages.
“It is vital we work toward one set of requirements established by the International Maritime Organization, avoiding the creation of a fractured system of regional requirements that reach beyond their own waters, and assuring a unified global effort to confront this important issue," Alfonso Castillero, the chief operating officer of the US-based registry, said in a statement.
He said the EU's ETS should apply to EU waters only to avoid distorting the global market.
"Like many other IMO member states, we remain committed to working with the EU on a collaborative effort to address the environmental challenges posed by greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
A unilateral EU ETS scheme would undermine current efforts put before IMO to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, according to Liberia and the World Shipping Council.
Proposals include setting up an international maritime research and development board to usher low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies and fuels into shipping.
The EU plan would also expand the bloc's rules on monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) and ETS taxation beyond EU territories.
"If the EU were to apply its ETS to shipping using the same geographic scope as the EU’s existing MRV regulation, the effect would be to apply a financial charge on voyages that in some cases stretch halfway around the world" Liberia said.
"This opens up the very real prospect of trade and tax retaliation on a global scale."
