London: Mark Brownrigg, director-general of the British Chamber of Shipping has blasted the Guardian newspaper for ignoring the focus of a UN study on CO2 emissions from Shipping. In a comeback titled 'Save the planet, send world trade by air?' on the Chamber's website, Brownrigg points out that "air freight produces 100 times as much CO2 per tonne kilometre", in direct contrast to the implication that shipping is inefficient in terms of CO2 emissions.
"It is a pity that the Guardian missed the main thrust of the report ?" the impact of practical options to reduce emissions of air pollutants (sulphur oxides and particulate matter) from ships," he writes. "The real focus of the IMO report however, was the reduction of air pollution from ships (CO2 is not classed as a pollutant but as a greenhouse gas). The report itself was not concerned with carbon emissions per se, except in terms of assessment of whether efforts to reduce air pollution from ships may actually raise their carbon footprint."
He adds,"The figures in the report submitted to the International Maritime Organization (the UN body for shipping) make a valuable contribution to the development of a baseline figure on which to assess industry efforts to reduce CO2 emissions as far and as fast as possible."
"The report made a major contribution to the revision of air emission legislation by the IMO last week. This should see a considerable lowering of global emissions of air pollutants in force world-wide by 2009. This is good news for the environment and for the health of those people affected by these emissions and industry was proud to have contributed positively and substantively to the debate," he concluded.
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