European lawmakers proposed on Thursday that shipping be included in the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), prompting a harsh response by shipowners.
The recommendation was approved on Thursday by the European Parliament’s Environmental Committee.
A final decision on the parliament’s stance on the matter is expected to be taken by its plenary session early next year, most probably in February.
“If this goes through, then the EU will wait until 2021, for the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to do something,” said Eirik Nyhus, director environment at DNV GL and its representative at the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), during an event in Athens on Friday.
“If the EU is not happy with what will happen at the IMO, the EU will put a scheme in place to be operational by 2023,” Nyhus added. “This would, of course, have a big impact on shipping”.
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the global trade association for shipowners, reacted furiously to the lawmakers’ vote.
“The EU’s ETS has been an abject failure,” said Simon Bennett, ICS director of Policy and External Relations in a statement.
“Its unilateral application to global shipping would create market distortion while generating trade disputes with China and other Asian nations, as happened when the EU tried unsuccessfully to impose its ETS on international aviation,” Bennett added.
The European Parliament’s initiative would also “polarize and impede” parallel discussions on carbon emission reduction schemes at the IMO, the ICS official said.
