EU lawmaker wants stricter shipping emissions measures

The EU should quickly and comprehensively address a predicted increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions to make maritime shipping more sustainable, German member of the European Parliament Jutta Paulus said today, following a new EU report on the sector's environmental record.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) today published a 212-page report examining the EU maritime sector's impact on the environment. Shipping accounts for 13.5pc of EU transport emissions. SO2 emissions from ships calling at EU, Icelandic and Norwegian ports were 1.63mn t in 2019, some 16pc of global SO2 emissions from international shipping.

The report noted that even if CO2 emissions from international maritime transport in the EU decreased by 17pc in 2005-15, they are projected to go up by 18pc by 2030 from 2015 levels, and by 39pc by 2050. This is "not in line" with the EU's economy-wide, climate-neutral objectives.

Paulus said the report reveals the "full" scale of environmental and climate impacts from maritime transport. "We need to quickly and comprehensively address the predicted increase in GHG and SO2 emissions to make maritime shipping more sustainable," she said.

"To date, maritime shipping has not been subject to any binding emission reduction measures. It is incomprehensible why the European Commission is planning to involve maritime shipping only gradually in the reform of the EU emissions trading system [ETS]," Paulus said. "There must be an end date for open scrubbers for exhaust gas purification, whose wastewater is simply discharged into the sea," she added.

She further called for parliament to established an Ocean Fund, financed using proceeds from maritime shipping's inclusion in the EU ETS, when negotiating the revision of the ETS with EU member states.

In July, the commission presented a range of legal measures that propose phasing maritime transport emissions into the EU ETS in 2023-25 and mandate a reduction in the GHG intensity of marine fuels.

Paulus is negotiating on behalf of parliament with EU member states over the revision of the EU's regulation on monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of CO2 emissions from shipping.

Also commenting on the report, EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said the maritime sector will produce "more and more" GHG emissions, air pollutants and underwater noise. He called for a "smooth but rapid" transition towards carbon neutrality.

Using data sent under the EU's MRV regulation, the EEA/EMSA report notes that shipping emissions contributed to 13.5pc of total EU GHG emissions from transport in 2018. The report also records ships calling at EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein emitting some 140mn t of CO2 in 2018, with container ships accounting for 44.2mn t of CO2, followed by bulk carriers (17.9mn t), oil tankers (17.8mn t), ro-pax ships (13.9mn t) and chemical tankers (9.1mn t). LNG carriers accounted for 5.5mn t of CO2. The report further underlined the impact of cargo-carrying capacity on CO2 emissions and a ship's technical energy efficiency.

By Dafydd ab Iago