Shippers offer voluntary emission cut

Two shipping groups proposed a voluntary emissions-reduction tool as the European Union urged the maritime transport industry to adopt internationally binding measures
to curb greenhouse gases or face EU-imposed limits.
The International Maritime Organization, created under the United Nations system, has been unable to agree on measures to curb emissions from ships for more than a decade. The EU may present its own proposal next year to limit the industry’s pollution if IMO doesn’t find a solution, the bloc’s Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said in a statement Sunday.
The tool developed by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum and the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, or Intertanko, aims to improve efficiency in the transport chain through a vessel’s passage speed. Trials implementing the system have reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gas discharges in some cases by as much as 22 percent, according to the two groups.
“This project has been initiated by the industry and is a testament to ship owners’ commitment to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from maritime transport,” Joe Angelo, director of Intertanko, said in a statement published in Brussels Sunday.
Global maritime transport accounts for almost 3 percent of carbon-dioxide discharges, and emissions from ships are expected to more than double by 2050, according to the European Commission, the Brussels-based EU regulatory arm.
The EU earlier signaled it may include shipping in its emissions trading system if there’s no global deal to cut maritime transport pollution. Started in 2005, the world’s biggest cap-and-trade program imposes pollution limits on more than 11,000 utilities and manufacturers, allowing those that emit less than their quota to sell surplus permits. One permit gives the right to discharge one metric ton of CO2.
The program will expand to include aviation next year and chemical and aluminum companies in 2013.
Source: Bloomberg