Shipping companies are crying foul over EU plans to regulate the sector’s emissions. But the industry’s claim that new rules would break international law has no legal basis, write Faïg Abbasov and Aoife O’Leary.
Faïg Abbasov is shipping director with Transport & Environment, a clean mobility campaign group; Aoife O’Leary is director for international climate at the Environmental Defense Fund, a green NGO.
After thirty years of regulatory silence on international shipping emissions, the EU has now committed to act by extending its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to cover the maritime sector. Not surprisingly, much of the shipping industry is trying to prevent this by stoking trade tensions and raising international legal questions.