Don't Send Us the Bill for Carbon Taxes: European Shipowners

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday November 3, 2021

Europe's shipowners have set out the case that they should not be the ones footing the bill for new carbon emission levies from the EU.

Industry body the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) has published its response to the proposal to include shipping within the EU's emissions trading system, broadly backing the measure but arguing that commercial operators of ships, rather than their owners, should pay for their GHG output.

"Applying the 'polluter pays' principle to shipping is critical for taking further efficiency measures and for the uptake of clean fuels in the sector," Sotiris Raptis, acting secretary general of the ECSA, said in the statement.

"ECSA supports that the commercial operator should bear the costs of the EU ETS.

"The law should require the entity responsible for the decisions affecting the CO2 emissions of a ship to bear the costs arising from the implementation of the EU ETS in the context of a contractual agreement."

The organisation also argued that a dedicated fund should be set up to stabilise the carbon price, and that any revenues from the emissions trading system should be used to fund decarbonisation research and development work and to narrow the price gap between conventional and alternative bunker fuels.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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