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EU to unilaterally include shipping in carbon credit trading scheme

EUROPEAN UNION lawmakers in their three legislative bodies - Council of Europe (member state leaders), European Commission (civil servants) and Parliament (elected members) - are moving to include shipping in their carbon emissions tax scheme rather than wait for the UN to devise global rules, a course the shipping industry prefers.

The EU proposals will go to a plenary vote in February to thrash out regulation to tax via a carbon credit scheme, aka "emissions trading system" (ETS), in which companies would be obliged to buy and sell credits on a polluter-pays basis.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) said the ETS, which was developed for the power, steel and cement sectors, had been "an abject failure" and was not suitable for shipping".

"Its unilateral application to global shipping would create market distortion while generating trade disputes with China and other Asian nations," said the ICS spokesman.

A European Commission spokeswoman said she was closely following the discussions, but had no specific comment.