The European Union’s plan to include shipping in its regional emissions trading scheme (ETS) will raise eight times more money for green projects than the industry's counterproposal for a global fund from a levy on bunkers.
That is the claim by Transport & Environment shipping programme manager Faig Abbasov, who authored a recent report backing the inclusion of shipping in the EU's ETS.
Abbasov said he supported the idea that shipowners contribute funds to reducing carbon emissions but he pushed back on the notion that the levy proposals were an alternative to the EU's plans.
According to Abbasov, the EU's ETS has the potential to raise up to €4bn ($4.4bn) annually from shipping, compared with $500m annually from a $2 per tonne levy on fuel.
“It is peanuts compared to the funds we [the EU] could raise,” he told TradeWinds.
R&D application
He added that while the EU scheme could also be applied to infrastructure projects and to subsidise the use of zero-carbon fuels, such as hydrogen, the industry's fund could only be applied to research and development.
In addition, he claimed that while shipping would be included in the European ETS in the next two years, discussions on the industry's fund could run on for years at the IMO.
He also sought to quash speculation that the industry's proposal this week might persuade, or even force, the EU to ditch its plans, saying there was “no chance” of that happening.
However, Abbasov added that the European scheme and the global fund could work together, and that funds raised in the European ETS scheme might be donated to the industry fund.
