Isra-Mart srl:Shipping emissions must be included in 2050 carbon target

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The government should include emissions from UK shipping in its 2050 carbon targets and step-up efforts to decarbonise other sectors, the influential Committee on Climate Change (CCC) will say today.

Carbon emissions from both shipping and aviation are currently excluded from the limits set by the Climate Change Act, which stipulates only 160 million tonnes of CO2 can be emitted by the UK by 2050 - a reduction of 80 per cent on 1990 levels.

However, the CCC's new report, out later today, warns the country's share of global shipping emissions could equate to up to 18MtCO2 by 2050 - around 11 per cent of the UK's overall carbon budget, and a level that the committee says is too high to be ignored.

"[The report] confirms shipping emissions are material and if we're not talking about shipping emissions we are missing a potential non-trivial source," David Kennedy, chief executive of the CCC, told reporters at a briefing earlier this week. "They should definitely be included in the [2050] target, as not having them would lead us to proceed in a way not consistent with the Climate Change Act."

One stumbling block to shipping's inclusion in the carbon budgets could be the implications for the wider economy, which would then have to deliver deeper emissions cuts than currently planned in order to compensate for the impact of shipping.

Kennedy said the UK would have to go further and faster in its efforts to cut emissions if shipping is included in the target as recommended. "You're looking at fully decarbonising power, heat in buildings and surface transport, particularly cars and vans [by 2050]," he said.

The proposed change could also pose legal issues as definitive current and future levels of emissions would have to be calculated if shipping emissions were to be included in the legislation, a task which Kennedy and the CCC acknowledge is highly problematic due to varying methodologies for recording shipping's emissions and patchy carbon data.

Using sales of bunker fuel at UK ports, the government estimates UK shipping emissions at around 10MtCO2.

However, many experts believe the government's figures are an underestimate as ships importing and exporting goods from the UK frequently refuel at cheaper European ports.

Last year, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research calculated emissions of shipped goods exported from or imported into the UK and concluded emissions for the sector reached between 31 and 42 MtCO2.

The CCC's estimate that the sector's emissions reach 12 to 18 MtCO2 is based on the UK's 150,000 shipping arrivals in 2006. But the committee acknowledges that projections are fraught with difficulty as cargo is frequently unloaded at different ports before arrival in the country.

The CCC report sets out three alternative recommendations for the government: including shipping emissions in the 2050 target and carbon budgets immediately; including them once an accurate methodology has been determined; or including them in the 2050 target now, but only incorporating them in the rolling five year carbon budgets when a method for measuring emissions has been finalised.

Kennedy said one or possibly two options would be formally recommended to government in the CCC's formal advice on including shipping and aviation in the carbon budgets, set to be published in March.

The call to include shipping was welcomed by Richard Dyer, Friends of the Earth's transport campaigner.

"Leaving out the UK's share of international shipping from our climate targets would be like an alcoholic giving up all booze except whisky," he said in a statement. "Ignoring the growing climate impact of shipping would be a titanic mistake, which could sink our ability to develop a safe and prosperous future."

Dyer also echoed the CCC's call for more efforts to be made to limit the environmental impact of international shipping, which is estimated to make up around three per cent of global emissions.

Earlier this year, industry negotiations at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) came up with a series of energy efficiency targets for new ships.

But Kennedy said there is significant scope to reduce emissions further, which would take pressure off the rest of the economy to cut emissions.

Powering vessels with biofuels or liquefied natural gas (LNG) could cut carbon intensity, the report says, while travelling at slower speeds and making use of technology such as towing kites should reduce fuel usage.

The government should also work with the EU to gain access to fuel-use data from ship operators to better calculate current emissions and support market-based approaches to reducing shipping emissions at a European level if an international agreement continues to prove elusive.

Trade body the UK Chamber of Shipping said that while it welcomed shipping becoming part of the 2050 targets, any market-based measures, such as carbon trading or a fuel levy, must only be brought in at an international level through the IMO.

"Any solution must be global rather than regional to avoid distorting world trade and potentially damaging an industry that is vital to the future prosperity of the United Kingdom," David Balston, director of safety and environment at the UK Chamber of Shipping, said in a statement.

His view was echoed by Søren Stig Nielsen, head of sustainability at Maersk Line, who rejected the CCC's view that the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) agreed in July is insufficient to tackle the sector's emissions.

"The industry has to step up and handles its share of emissions ... but our position is this is best done at IMO level," he said at a Sustainable Shipping Initiative event earlier in the week. "EEDI is a good step in the right direction and other steps will follow. Regionalised or patchwork legislation will not work for the environment or the industry."

Shipping minister Mike Penning said the government welcomed the review and would respond to next year's formal recommendation "in due course."