UN's Maritime Agency to Weigh Setting Price on Ship Emissions

Source Hellenic Shipping News vom 12.12.2011

The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations' shipping agency, will next year consider how to set a price on greenhouse-gas emissions from ships that contribute to climate change. The London-based IMO's environmental panel will give "priority consideration" on whether to set a global levy or establish an emissions-trading program, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said today in an interview in Durban, South Africa. The UN agency has been unable to agree on measures to curb emissions from ships for more than a decade. The European Union, which runs the world's biggest carbon trading system, has said it may present its own proposal next year to limit the industry's pollution if IMO doesn't find a solution. Global maritime transport accounts for almost 3 percent of carbon-dioxide discharges, and emissions from ships are expected to increase from 150 percent to 250 percent by 2050, according a report by WWF and Oxfam published in September. Mitropoulos declined to comment on when a decision may be made or how much revenue may be raised from a tax or trading program. He stressed that any new rules for shipping emissions must apply to all vessels regardless of country. "For this system to succeed, ships should comply with the same global standards all over the world," he said. "Were we to move to different standards for different ships you would have a major problem." A proposal at the Durban summit calls for using charges on shipping fuels as a way to channel money into a UN climate aid fund. The plan is part of discussions on how to establish a new Green Climate Fund and raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help vulnerable nations deal with global warming. Carbon Price The proposal is significant because it identifies the first potential private source of income for the fund. The draft UN document proposes that "financial resources" raised by unspecified actions to be taken by the IMO to cut bunker fuel emissions be channelled into both the UN's mooted Green Climate Fund and into providing compensation to developing nations whose companies are affected by the extra shipping costs. Setting a $25 per metric ton carbon price on shipping fuel could generate $25 billion a year by 2020 and help reduce emissions, according to environment group WWF and charity Oxfam. About $10 billion of that could be channelled to the Green Climate Fund, they said. Mitropoulos declined to comment on proposals being discussed at the Durban talks.