Despite shipping companies doing everything in their power to avoid it, the European Commission stands firm. CO2 quotas must be imposed on shipping, and the proposal will be introduced in a few months, says top official. The European Parliament widely supports the use of quotas.
Photo: Thomas /pxtb04566.jpg
Although shipping companies are fighting tooth and nail to avoid becoming part of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), the European Commission is firmly committed to making it happen.
This was evident after a speech in Brussels Thursday by Diederik Samsom, head of cabinet in climate commissioner Frans Timmermans’ cabinet. The Commission is currently hard at work trying to determine how CO2 quotas can help make European shipping more climate-friendly, and plans to present its suggestions as part of its large Green Deal before summer. And Samsom plays a central role in turning Timmermans’ ambitions into political reality.
“There’s also options to include shipping into the ETS and include a market-based mechanism in order to incentify, to enhance, to improve, to speed up the innovation we so badly need for a sustainable future,” said Samsom to a room full of politicians and industry representatives in connection with the European Shipping Week last week.
The announcement came during the same week in which the European Parliament discussed a proposal aiming to include shipping in the ETS already from this year.
New green EU
This proposal saw wide support with numerous European party groups in the environmental committee backing German politician Jutta Paulus’ draft. She presented a bill to update the so-called MRV regulation, which concerns the measurement of CO2 from ships. And as something new, she has added the EU’s quota system into the proposal, which received wide support Tuesday last week when it was presented.
However, the industry is doing everything in its power to avoid becoming part of the quota system. When the parliament first tried to include shipping under the ETS back in 2017, it ended up being rejected by the Council of Ministers, which called the proposal “unacceptable”. Today, however, the situation is quite different. Both the European Parliament and the new president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, now have a significantly greener profile.
Just 11 days into her new job, von der Leyen presented her new climate action plan.
The president of the Union of Greek Shipowners, Theodore Veniamis, has called the quota system an “imprecise and cumbersome market-based mechanism,” while the Dutch shipowners, as most others, have pointed out that a European system is not sufficient, taking the global picture into account.
Billions of euros for new technologies
The European Commission plans to present its assessment and plan future work this summer. Until then, the EU will be a “constructive” partner in the IMO, emphasized Samsom.
“The next months the EU Commission will assess carefully the possibilities of designing a new framework for clean maritime transport. And that new framework will include new investments and new technologies. Also the innovation fund as part of the ETS can be used. There are billions of euros there to be used and reinvested in new technologies.”
The Council of Ministers’ opinion on CO2 quotas for shipping remains unknown.
English Edit: Ida Jacobsen
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