Lamia Kerdjoudj-Belkaid
February 17th, 2017 – Shipping in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS): a strong message sent by the European Parliament to all maritime stakeholders
Two days ago, the European Parliament has voted in favour of the inclusion of CO2 emissions from shipping in the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the establishment of a maritime climate fund “in the absence of progress at international level” as from 2023.
FEPORT sees this decision as a strong signal of support sent by “people’s representatives” to all industries who have already taken initiatives to decrease the level of the carbon emissions resulting from their operations and an incentive to the shipping industry to engage in discussions at IMO level.
Shipping has a role to play. COP21 was a missed opportunity for the industry to be included in the framework of the global discussions about climate change. It is therefore important that the “missed rendez-vous” is transformed into a proactive attitude within IMO which remains the best place where the necessary reduction of shipping carbon emissions should be agreed upon.
“Whether ETS is the best scheme to target the issue of the reduction of emissions from shipping has still to be demonstrated but within FEPORT, we consider that the European Parliament’s meaningful vote has to be considered as a strong message to the shipping industry about the necessity to act and develop a global comprehensive scheme for emissions reduction” says Ms. Lamia Kerdjoudj-Belkaid, FEPORT Secretary General.
“The EU and national climate measures resulting from Paris Agreement shall compel port stakeholders to meet the requirements and to reduce their carbon footprint. Port Authorities and private port operators will be accountable for all emissions resulting from port operations but also those produced by ships during their calls” continues FEPORT Secretary General.
Since 2012, the major container terminal operators in the European Union have created a voluntary methodology (the EEEG Guidelines) which allows container terminals to calculate their CO2 emissions on a periodical basis.
More recently FEPORT has engaged with Smart Freight Center, the initiator of the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC), a voluntary partnership of companies, associations and programs committed to the consistent calculation and reporting of emissions from logistics operations, with a view to using this information as the basis for targeted emissions reduction from the logistics sector.
“We believe in proactivity and in the fact that we are all interdependent in the maritime logistics chain. Therefore, if one party does not deliver in terms of carbon reduction, the overall result will remain unsatisfactory and below the targets” concludes Ms. Lamia Kerdjoudj-Belkaid.
