Norway Says IMO Should Regulate Global Emissions From Shipping

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30 Nov 2009

Norway, the world’s fifth-largest shipping nation, said regulating emissions from the shipping industry should be left up to the International Maritime Organization. “The general principals should be made in Copenhagen, while the nitty-gritty should be done through the International Maritime Organization,” Erik Solheim, environment and international development minister, said in Oslo yesterday.
At least 66 heads of state from almost 200 countries will meet in Copenhagen for a climate summit next week to seek a replacement or extension for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which runs through 2012.
Europe wants the world to tackle transport emissions after the Kyoto treaty excluded the maritime and aviation industries from greenhouse-gas targets. Aviation and shipping each account for about 3 percent of global emissions, according to the European Federation for Transport and Environment.
Emissions from Norwegian-owned ships are “more or less the same, maybe a little less” than the country’s other carbon emissions combined, which is about 50 million tons, Solheim said. “It’s not a small source of emissions,” he said.
There should be no difference made between ships registered in Norway or other places such as Liberia or Panama, he said. While Norway has suggested a cap and trade system, it’s most important to find a suitable system that can be implemented, the minister said.
A cap-and-trade system puts a ceiling on greenhouse-gas emissions and lets polluters buy and sell permits needed to release the gases. The European Union, 10 northeast U.S. states and the United Nations currently manage carbon market programs.
Norway, the world’s sixth-largest oil exporter, has promised to reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels and is prepared to cut by 40 percent “if it can contribute to an important international agreement in Copenhagen,” Solheim said. A White Paper will be presented to parliament in February detailing what needs to be done to reach that goal, he said.

Source: Bloomberg