EMEA News
Europe Approves National Pollution Caps, Removes Proposal to Offset International Shipping Emissions
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) last week said it had approved European Commission (EC) plans for national caps on emissions of six key pollutants, including those created by international shipping.
"MEPs approved the proposed caps for sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC), methane (CH4) ammonia (NH3), and fine particulates (PM, less than 2.5 micrometers), to be achieved by 2020 and 2030," explained the report.
MEPs also voted to remove an EC proposal that would allow member states to offset reductions in emissions from international shipping, and are instead urging the EC to consider measures and possible legislative proposals to reduce emissions from international shipping in member states' territorial waters and exclusive economic zones.
Lead MEP Julie Girling (ECR, UK), speaking on the overall initiative, said "air pollution imposes enormous human and economic costs. It also damages the natural environment, through eutrophication and acid deposition, and it doesn't stop at EU member states' borders."
"This legislation will help at all levels of governance in the member states, including the regional and sub-regional authorities who have engaged so vigorously in the process. There is a real bottom-up demand for action."
MEPs are reported to be entering into negotiations with the EC in order to reach a first-reading agreement on the proposed national emissions caps.
Last month, the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) called the request by MEPs for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to develop a global emissions reduction framework by the end of 2016 "unrealistic."
