Shipping industry proposes tax to accelerate zero carbon future

LONDON, Sept. 6 (Reuters) – Major shipping associations have proposed creating a global tax on carbon emissions from ships to help speed up industry efforts to become greener.

With around 90% of global trade transported by sea, global maritime transport accounts for almost 3% of global CO2 emissions and the sector is under increasing pressure to become cleaner.

For the first time, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and Intercargo have jointly proposed a tax based on compulsory contributions from merchant ships worldwide, exceeding 5,000 gross tonnage, for each tonne of CO2 emitted.

The money raised would go into a climate fund that would be used to deploy bunkering infrastructure in ports around the world to deliver cleaner fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia, according to the proposal.

“What maritime transport needs is a truly global market-based measure like this that will close the price gap between carbon-free and conventional fuels,” said Secretary-General of ICS, Guy Platten.

The proposal was submitted to the UN maritime agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on Friday.

An IMO spokesperson said all proposals were welcome and would be discussed later this year, adding that “the proposals for market-based measures are in line with IMO’s original GHG strategy. (greenhouse gas)”.

IMO will organize an intersessional working group meeting scheduled for late October, ahead of a late November session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, which will address issues such as carbon reduction efforts.

The European Commission proposed in July to add shipping to the bloc’s carbon market, targeting an industry that for more than a decade had avoided the EU’s pollution charge system. Read more

The ICS said “piecemeal” approaches such as the EU’s proposal would significantly complicate “the conduct of maritime commerce”.

Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Steve Orlofsky

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