The European Parliament has adopted reforms that include shipping in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), sparking opposition from international shipping associations.
According to the draft proposals, shipping will be part of the ETS scheme as of 2023, if there is no comparable system operating through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by 2021.
ETSs have elicited conflicting views among politicians and European nations, while IMO secretary general Ki-Tack Lim warned Brussels in January over its plans.
Following the European Parliament’s decision earlier today, Ralf Nagel, chief executive of the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR), said: “The decision of the European Parliament is a detrimental signal towards the 172 IMO member-states.
“You cannot, on the one hand, complain about countries like USA and UK that are withdrawing from multilateral agreements, and, at the same time, thwart a global consensus by implementing a limited regional regulation.”
Nagel added that including international shipping in the ETS “jeopardises the positive outcome of the positive negotiations within IMO”.
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) said it was “disappointed but not surprised” with the outcome.
Simon Bennett, ICS director of policy and external relations, said: “This vote for a unilateral, regional measure simply risks polarising debate among IMO member states which have already agreed to develop a strategy for reducing shipping’s CO2 emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.”
The ETS has suffered from excess supply since the financial crisis, depressing its price and heightening the need for reform.
Another association to strongly oppose the new reforms was the European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA).
Secretary general Patrick Verhoeven said: "Putting unrealistic pressure on IMO with regional measures that will gravely hurt a global sector and do very little for climate is not the way to proceed.
"It will unduly complicate the achievement of an effective and timely global agreement in IMO that everyone in the end wants."
Intertanko joins VDR, ICS and ECSA
The latest organization to raise its voice against the latest decision by the European Parliament was Intertanko.
Dragos Rauta, technical director of Intertanko, said: "Intertanko and its members consider the EU Parliament’s ambition as totally counter-productive.
Katharina Stanzel, managing director of Intertanko, added: "It is disappointing that, despite the IMO Secretary General’s recent appeal to EU leadership, they still fail to recognise the crucial importance effective regulations at global level will have in this domain."
