"Today’s vote was expected... but the shipping industry is still disappointed by the Parliament’s confirmation of the EU decision to pre-empt the current International Maritime Organization (IMO) negotiations on a global data collection system on shipping’s CO2 emissions by adopting a unilateral, regional Regulation on the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of individual ship emissions – which will also apply to non-EU flag ships trading to Europe – in advance of IMO completing its work," a joint statement said.
The groups said that the verdict risks putting IMO negotiations - which had thus far been "progressing well" - in jeopardy. "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 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 in October 2014."
The groups said that it was "vital" for EU member states to explain how the new EU Regulation could be implemented in a way that was compatible with IMO's global MRV scheme, "in the interests of avoiding the unhelpful complication of a separate regional regime."
"The shipping industry associations reiterate that the latest IMO Green House Gas Study, published in 2014, found that international shipping had reduced its total CO2 emissions by more than 10% between 2007 and 2012, despite an increase in maritime trade.
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