EU urged to tax international shipping

IN 2019, the European Commission committed in its European Green Deal to extend its Emissions Trading System (ETS) to the maritime sector while the European Parliament has proposed introducing a maritime ETS by Jan 1, 2022.

It does now look quite likely that the European Union (EU) will impose a marine ETS of some sort. There is, though, a debate going on as to whether the proposed ETS should apply to international shipping (an option that Transport & Environment refers to as full-scope) or just to ships trading between EU ports. I nearly wrote "European ports" but whether the UK would be included is, at the time of writing, very much a moot point.

Environmental campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) has long been a strong supporter of regional action to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and dismisses the idea that the UN Agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) can put together an effective global scheme. It is pushing hard for international shipping to be included in regional schemes.