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Shipping Industry Split on Emissions Fix

TIN news:   Shipping groups remain divided over how to reduce carbon emissions after being left out of the climate-change pact reached over the weekend in Paris.
The landmark agreement between more than 190 nations sets targets to curb the release of greenhouse gases and sets a target global temperature. But adherence to the voluntary pact will be measured within each country’s borders, leaving out the ships and aircraft that carry goods around the world.
The International Maritime Organization, the shipping industry’s main regulatory body, says carriers will contribute to global carbon-reduction but stopped short of committing to formal targets. That doesn’t go far enough for some in the industry, who say carriers may face a series of varying regional regulations without a common global standard. International shipping accounts for 2.2% of man-made CO2 emissions, according to the IMO.
“We are operating in a global industry that calls for a global solution,” said John Kornerup Bank, chief advisor on climate change at at A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the parent of Maersk Line, the world’s largest container shipping line. “The last thing we want to see is a series of regional regulations. The effects will not be level and they will not be effective because it is so easy in this business to move fleets around.”
The IMO, a United Nations agency that sets rules for international maritime operations, has adopted mandatory energy efficiency standards for new ships and standards for measuring ship emissions. Those actions don’t address overall emissions, however, the result of an impasse between larger, developed nations and countries with emerging economies, industry officials say.
Mr. Bank in an interview said the IMO is hamstrung by the process in which rules are negotiated by member countries. He praised the Paris agreement but said the carrier was disappointed the final draft did not urge international transport to address the issue.
“The right place to do this is the IMO, but it’s been stuck,” he said.
IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said in a statement that the agency will “continue work to address … emissions from ships engaged in international trade.”
The International Chamber of Shipping, a London-based trade group representing ship owners, said it will press for an agreement on carbon-reduction targets at an April 2016 meeting the IMO has scheduled on the issue.
“Unilateral or regional regulation would be disastrous for shipping and disastrous for global CO2 reduction, whereas IMO is already helping shipping to deliver substantial CO2 reductions on a global basis,” ICS Secretary General Peter Hinchliffe said in a statement.
A recent European Parliament report estimated between 3% and 4% of global, man-made CO2 emissions came from international commercial flights and shipping.
The International Air Transport Association, which represents the world’s airlines, said it expects the aviation industry to reach an agreement next year through the International Civil Aviation Organization—which is also a UN-chartered regulatory body—on “carbon-neutral growth from 2020.”

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