Thursday 17 September 2020
EU Parliament votes in favour of 40% emissions reduction from shipping industry
The European Parliament has voted in favour of including greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) from 2022.
It wants maritime transport to be more ambitious and believes ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and above should be included in the EU ETS.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) say market-based emissions reduction policies are not enough and are calling on shipping companies to reduce their annual average CO2 emissions per transport unit for all their ships by at least 40% by 2030.
They say maritime transport remains the only sector with no specific EU commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Global shipping activity emits significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, estimated to be around 2% to 3% of total emissions – more than the emissions of any EU member state.
In 2017, around 13% of total EU greenhouse gas emissions from transport in the EU came from the maritime sector.
The MEPs largely agree that reporting obligations by the EU and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) should be aligned, as proposed by the Commission.
They are calling on the Commission to examine the overall environmental integrity of the measures decided by the IMO, including the targets set under the Paris Agreement.
In addition, the MEPs propose the establishment of an Ocean Fund for the period between 2022 and 2030, financed by revenues from auctioning allowances under the ETS, to make ships more energy efficient and to support investment in innovative technologies and infrastructure such as alternative fuels and green ports.
They say around 20% of the revenues under the Fund should be used to contribute to protecting, restoring and efficiently managing marine ecosystems impacted by global warming.
Rapporteur and German Greens MEP Jutta Paulus said: “Today, we are sending a strong signal in line with the European Green Deal and the climate emergency: monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions is important but statistics alone do not save a single gram of greenhouse gas! That's why we are going further than the Commission proposal and demanding tougher measures to reduce emissions from maritime shipping.”
