European Parliament TRAN Committee Opinion acknowledges vessel owner and operator shared responsibility for decarbonisation

On April 28, the MEPs serving on the Transport Committee voted to adopted their opinion and proposed amendments as input to the European Parliament’s consideration of the EU ETS revision.  

Regulation to include shipping in the EU ETS is under development as part of the EU Green Deal, a great opportunity for the EU to contribute to the transition to zero carbon for international shipping. The European Commission proposal is now under review by the European Parliament, with the EP ENVI Committee holding the lead rapporteur role and EP TRAN Committee providing input guided by rapporteur Mr Novakov.

WSC welcomes the thorough work done by Mr Novakov in considering how the EU ETS can be most effective as well as practical to implement. The TRAN Committee sees the importance of recognizing the shared responsibility between the vessel owner and operator. Owners and operators have complementary roles and working together provides the fastest way forward for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping sector in the EU.

The TRAN Committee also proposes that a dedicated Maritime Transition Fund shall be established by the Commission to support and accelerate projects, investments and innovations to speed the sector towards a decarbonised future. WSC strongly welcomes such a regional commitment that would complement a global programme to achieve zero emissions through directed R&D. 

Unfortunately, the misconception prevails in the TRAN Committee input that aiming for a wider scope for the ETS, outside of the EU, is more environmentally ambitious. In fact, the opposite is true. As the EC has shown in its impact assessment, a wider geographical scope introduces environmentally and economically damaging carbon leakage. Extra-EU scope will likely provoke significant trade tensions that undermine global cooperation in combating climate change while encouraging countries to seek national revenues through the taxation of international trade through independent and overlapping regulations. There are now several concrete proposals to introduce a global carbon price up for discussion at the IMO, advocated by WSC as a critical pathway towards zero carbon shipping. If the EU prescribes rules extending across oceans and into the waters of non-EU countries, achieving an effective global agreement will be rendered far more difficult.

By contrast, an intra-EU scope would:

·        Ensure the right economic incentives for the adoption of green shipping technologies

·        Minimize the potential for carbon leakage that would undermine EU Green Deal goals

·        Enhance Member State and EU port competitiveness

·        Position the EU to drive global greenhouse gas policy through the IMO

WSC looks forward to working further with the EU institutions in the next steps towards achieving a revised ETS that is ambitious, effective and practical. WSC also calls on the lead EP ENVI Committee to take into account the EP TRAN Committee’s opinion when adopting the draft report on 16 May.