European CO2 emissions regulation could conflict with IMO’s global scheme, experts say

London: The European Parliament (EP) today voted to adopt a regional EU regulation on the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of CO₂ emissions from individual ships.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO and Intercargo are disappointed with the decision but said it was unsurprising.

The IMO is currently negotiating its own global data collection system on shipping’s CO₂ emissions, but the EP’s new unilateral regulation will pre-empt this scheme within Europe. Its application to vessels from outside the EU could cause confusion, the three organisations say.

“Until now, with the industry’s support, the IMO negotiations have been progressing well. But there is a danger that the EU initiative will be seen by non-EU nations as an attempt to present them with a fait accompli,” the three organisations said in a joint statement today.

“The EU regulation includes controversial elements, such as the publication of commercially sensitive data on individual ships, an idea which had previously been rejected by the majority of IMO governments during a meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in October 2014.”

EU member states need to clarify how the new Europe-wide regulation can be implemented and harmonised with IMO’s global scheme, which is still under discussion, the organisations said.

IMO will continue to negotiate additional reduction measures for CO₂ emissions from shipping at the upcoming MEPC meeting in two weeks’ time.

The IMO’s latest Green House Gas Study, published in 2014, found that international shipping reduced its total CO₂ emissions by more than 10% between 2007 and 2012, despite an increase in maritime trade during the period.