French shipowners have backed calls for a 'bunker tax' as shipping's contribution to the global effort to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The French shipowners' association, Armateurs de France, said the money could be paid to an internationally supervised fund for projects aimed at reducing climate change.
This month's meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) failed to agree proposals for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Among the ideas under discussion were emissions trading schemes and a bunker levy.
The French shipowners called the notion of trading pollution rights “distasteful”, according to a report in the maritime news service Lloyd's List.
The association said any trading scheme would “raise more questions than it solved”, given the range of ships involved, the number of companies concerned and the complexity of the calculations necessary to make any system work.
A global tax of bunker fuel, by contrast, could be imposed without distorting competition, it argued.
The proposal to charge a 'bunker levy' on the world shipping fleet was made by the Danish delegation to the IMO early this year.
The Danish delegates said the levy would cut shipping's GHG emissions and encourage efficiency.
The French shipowners' association, Armateurs de France, said the money could be paid to an internationally supervised fund for projects aimed at reducing climate change.
This month's meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) failed to agree proposals for cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Among the ideas under discussion were emissions trading schemes and a bunker levy.
The French shipowners called the notion of trading pollution rights “distasteful”, according to a report in the maritime news service Lloyd's List.
The association said any trading scheme would “raise more questions than it solved”, given the range of ships involved, the number of companies concerned and the complexity of the calculations necessary to make any system work.
A global tax of bunker fuel, by contrast, could be imposed without distorting competition, it argued.
The proposal to charge a 'bunker levy' on the world shipping fleet was made by the Danish delegation to the IMO early this year.
The Danish delegates said the levy would cut shipping's GHG emissions and encourage efficiency.