Shipping could be hit with emissions targets or a levy on fuel as the industry sector is put on the agenda for discussion at the upcoming climate change COP 21 meeting in Paris.
Under the Kyoto Protocol the regulation of shipping emissions had been entrusted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
However environmental lobby group Transport and Environment said shipping and aviation needs to be part of new agreement in Paris if global warming is to be kept under control.
In a statement Transport and Environment manager Bill Hemmings said: “International aviation and shipping emissions are the elephants in the room for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.”
“The Paris Agreement must send a clear signal – not a passing reference – to the UN bodies regulating these emissions, ICAO and IMO, that time is up and action is now due. The two-degree global warming limit becomes next to impossible if Paris gives these sectors a free pass.”
Among the emissions control measures for shipping which could come under discussion in Paris are emissions reductions targets and a levy on fuel or other market measures.
