Greece calls for charterers to pay for impending European maritime carbon scheme

Greece’s shipping minister, Ioannis Plakiotakis, has written to the European Commission, demanding that charterers stump up cash when shipping joins the block’s emissions trading system (ETS).

Greece, home to Europe’s largest shipowning community, is arguing that the polluter pays principle ought to apply when shipping gets hit by the regional regulation, likely from next year. The argument, also promoted by the Union of Greek Shipowners, is that charterers dictate the speed of ships, and by extension their emissions.

The Greek government is backing the European Parliament’s proposal of establishing an Ocean Fund under the ETS to fund research and development and the deployment of green fuels.

Final details of shipping’s inclusion in the European ETS are due to be thrashed out this July. Other nations, including the US and China, are watching on carefully as they mull following a similar path.