ECSA: CO2 Emission Cuts Should Apply to Entire Shipping Industry

In an effort to limit the increase in global temperature, the CO2 emission reduction measures must be introduced globally and should apply equally to the whole shipping industry, according to European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA).

“We believe that shipping, together with all other industry sectors, must be part of the solution to limit the increase in global temperature, as we clearly are a global contributor to carbon emissions,” said ECSA President Niels Smedegaard, addressing a symposium on decarbonisation of shipping held in Antwerp.

He said that the overall goal must be a global agreement for maritime emissions, which the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is moving towards.

As the EU has shown leadership by adopting its regulation on monitoring, reporting and verifying CO2 emissions of shipping, “our focus should now be on ensuring the proper implementation of the MRV Regulation and make certain that the regulation is aligned with the IMO data collection system which will be formalised in October this year. This will ensure that European shipping will be covered by a single system, in an efficient manner without double work,” he added.

The European Commission has not included shipping in its current review of the European Emissions Trading System. ECSA believes that this reflects the reality that shipping is a global business and that regional measures would have a directly distorting impact on European operators.