EMEA News
UK Should Not Follow EU Regional Approach to Decarbonisation: Shipping Body
The UK Chamber of Shipping has warned the UK against following the European Union's regional approach to maritime emissions regulations after Brexit.
The organisation's chairman, John Denholm, called for the UK to oppose the regional approach in favour of supporting the IMO at its annual dinner last week.
"I know it must be tempting to follow the route that Europe is taking to establish a regional Emissions Trading Scheme, as the money this would raise would help reduce the budget deficit," he said at the event.
"It all sounds terribly simple -- tax half the emissions of a ship arriving in the UK -- but the devil is in the detail.
"A container ship will only discharge part of its cargo in the UK, and this cargo will have been loaded at multiple ports along the way.
"“Please don’t be tempted! It is not simple; a plethora of regional market-based measures would put a terrible burden on our industry, depress trade and would inevitably be inequitable.
"Instead, we ask you to campaign against nations setting up regional or national market-based measures."
Denholm also called for more progress at the IMO towards setting a global net zero emissions deadline of 2050.
"It is no longer about mitigating emissions, it is about eliminating them -- and eliminating them by 2050," he said.
"If we are to achieve this, we need that market-based measure to drive the change and we need it now, as the ships we build in 2030 are going to be part of the fleet in 2050."
