Are the EU ETS revisions fair?

IT’S been years of waiting and lobbying, but we finally have Europe’s proposals for how the EU Emissions Trading System will look beyond 2030. The European Commission has released its long list of proposals for how to reform the cap-and-trade scheme, including how much shipping pays, and how much of the proceeds it gets back. Shipowners, like most European businesses, have to buy and surrender credits called allowances for each tonne of carbon they emit. The industry reckons it will pay about 90 billion euros into the scheme between 2030 and 2040, and it wants that money reinvested in decarbonisation. To remedy that, the European Commission wants to include earmarking 110 million allowances in a mechanism called Sustainable Maritime Alternative Propulsion, or SMAP, to subsidise low and zero-emission fuels. That’s about ten billion euros, give or take. It will crack down on evasive port calls by including some 20 more neighbouring non-EU ports in the schem. And it will also cover smaller vessels, with the minimum gross tonnage limit lowered from 5000 to just 400. Are the revisions fair? Has shipping got what it’s asked for? To find out, Lloyd’s List senior editor Declan Bush is joined by: Sotiris Raptis, secretary general of European Shipowners Simon Bergulf, vice president for environment and climate, World Shipping Council Delphine Kaczorowski, EU advocacy manager, Opportunity Green