Europe is taking the lead on pricing pollution from ships

• 24-28 May: IMO Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships 
• 14-18 June: IMO 76th Marine Environmental Protection Committee
• The Parliament, EU member states and the Commission trilogue negotiations on the MRV rules for the collection of data on shipping emissions – ongoing
• June: The EU Commission proposal to bring international shipping in the EU carbon market

The European Parliament wants to bring international shipping under the EU carbon market and the EU Commission is looking into it. 
 
Europe moving on the carbon pricing front is a result of the utter failure to tackle the issue at the global level. Tasked to come up with solutions to reduce pollution from ships, the UN shipping body IMO has instead agreed to allow the sector’s greenhouse gas pollution to keep rising until 2030.

Carbon Market Watch promotes strong carbon pricing for the sector in Europe. This would show the world that the EU is not afraid to act when global talks don’t deliver. Elements included in the European Parliament’s position on shipping reporting rules could be a game-changer for the sector. For example, a maritime decarbonisation fund would provide resources to drive innovation, to bring climate solutions to the market and to create clean jobs. Setting a mandatory 2030 reduction target for the carbon intensity of shipping would ensure short-term climate action.

No offsetting for shipping
The talks at the IMO are moving from short-term measures (at which they’ve largely failed) to climate measures in the mid-to-long term. These include carbon pricing. Carbon Market Watch will follow and feed into these conversations to ensure that any pricing measures drive decarbonisation of the sector:

• It will be crucial that the IMO doesn’t follow the UN aviation agency ICAO’s example and establish an offsetting scheme that is little more than a greenwashing exercise. 
• Carbon pricing should complement a broader set of short- and longer-term measures. 
• A carbon pricing scheme for shipping should be designed in a way that is environmentally effective but that does not put an undue burden on less developed countries.
• Governments must use the raised revenues to support in-sector research and development to achieve further emissions cuts. They should also compensate the least developed countries for any negative impact on their development.