ECSA Welcomes Agreement on EU Emission Trading System

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday November 22, 2017

The European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) today welcomed EU Member State approval of a provisional agreement among the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, and the European Commission on the reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS).

"European shipowners have a strong interest to decarbonise the industry and we think it is the right decision that the EU will leave regulation of shipping's CO2 emissions to the International Maritime Organization (IMO)," said Martin Dorsman, ECSA's Secretary General.

"The IMO is currently busy drawing up its strategy for reducing CO2 emissions from the international shipping. IMO is the organisation to regulate our global industry."

Last year, ECSA stressed the importance for emissions reduction schemes for shipping to be implemented globally, warning against moving ahead with a regional European scheme.

ECSA notes that IMO has certain agreed milestones in its plan of global climate strategy, and is expected to adopt an initial strategy in April toward comprehensive emissions reductions from ships, adopting a final strategy in 2023.

Last February, MEPs voted in favour of the inclusion of shipping emissions in EU's ETS from 2023 if IMO does not have a comparable system operating for global shipping from 2021.