European shipping emissions undermining international climate targets

(The Guardian, 9 Dec 2019) New report says greenhouse gas emissions equal carbon footprint of a quarter of passenger cars in Europe.

Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping equal the carbon footprint of a quarter of passenger cars in Europe and stand in the way of countries reducing emissions and limiting runaway global heating, new analysis reveals.

Despite the scale of shipping emissions from both container and cruise ships, they are not part of emissions reduction targets made by countries as part of the Paris agreement on climate change.

In France, Germany, UK, Spain, Sweden and Finland shipping emissions in 2018 were larger than the emissions from all the passenger cars registered in 10 or more of the largest cities in each country, according to the report published on Monday from Transport and Environment, a Brussels-based NGO.

The whole shipping sector emitted about 139m tonnes of CO2 in 2018 – equal to CO2 from a quarter of Europe’s total passenger car fleet or 68m cars, the report, EU Shipping’s Climate Record, said.

Since 2015, shipping companies have had to declare data on their emissions under the EU Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Regulation (MRV). T&E’s report analyses the data and calculates that a container shipping operator has joined coal plants and Ryanair in the EU’s list of top 10 carbon emitters.

The operator – the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) – moves consumer goods, ranging from electronics and fresh fruit to clothes and toys. It was responsible for about 11m tonnes of CO2 emissions, the report claims.

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The Guardian, 9 Dec 2019: European shipping emissions undermining international climate targets