Shipping, Aviation Dropped from Paris Climate Text
The global airline and shipping industries appeared to win a symbolic reprieve from the growing global drive to reduce carbon emissions on Wednesday, cut from a new draft climate change pact being negotiated in Paris. As nearly 200 nations attempt to craft a breakthrough global deal to slow the rise in world temperatures, the reference to two of the world's fastest-growing emitters appeared to be one of the first significant changes in an agreement still riddled with much bigger, more contentious issues. A previous draft from Dec. 5 had included an optional paragraph that would have singled out the two sectors and encouraged nations to curb their carbon output "with a view to agreeing concrete measures addressing these emissions".
Shipping Braces for post-Paris Pollution Tax
Brussels sets end-2016 deadline for CO2-cutting proposals by IMO. The shipping industry expects to be stung by a carbon levy as momentum building from climate talks in Paris starting this month makes a cut to its greenhouse gas emissions likely. Any tax - either a levy based on fuel use by diesel-driven ships or a market based mechanism - would add to rising costs for the industry, which transports 90 percent of world trade. A draft Paris text makes scant mention of reducing CO2 from marine bunker fuels. Yet ship industry sources say some form of taxation is expected to come in the wake of any deal at the Nov.30-Dec. 11 summit. "We do expect that sooner or later shipping will be regulated on CO2…
Shippers Call 2016 Emission Reduction Goal 'Unrealistic'
The global shipping industry is unlikely to meet an end-2016 deadline for setting targets and developing a plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Europe's shipping industry lobby said on Friday. The European Commission this week called on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to present measures to cut emissions by the end of 2016. The move is part of an EU pledge to cut 1990-level greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030. "2016 is right around the corner and as such it is rather unrealistic to expect the IMO to come up with a solution in a matter of months…
Marshall Islands Calls for New Emissions Target
In a submission to the International Maritime Organization, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, currently the world’s third largest shipping registry, has called for the setting of a new global target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, a growing sector currently left out of international climate negotiations. “The goal of keeping global temperature rise under 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius requires action from all countries, and all sectors of the global economy. International shipping must be part of the action.
Obama's U.S. Carbon Cuts Likely To Win Muted Applause
President Barack Obama's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants, due to be announced on Monday, will win muted applause abroad with some hopes it could help a U.N. deal to fight climate change in 2015. Emerging economies including China and India are likely to be lukewarm because they have often said that Obama's plans for emissions cuts until 2020 - even if fully implemented - are far short of the curbs they say are needed by the rich. But the U.S. plan to limit emissions by existing power plants could put pressure on other nations in U.N. talks on a deal meant to be agreed at a summit in Paris in late 2015. Obama's plan will be a "good signal" for Paris by showing that "one of the world's biggest emitters is taking the future of the planet and its people seriously…
