shipping tagged posts

A group of ship owners have announced plans for a $5bn (£3.8bn) fund to design zero-emissions vessels. They says $2 (£1.50) should be levied on every tonne of ships’ fuel – to support research into clean engines. Shipping creates about 3% of the emissions that are over-heating the climate – equivalent to all of Germany’s CO2.

Environmentalists welcomed the proposal but also described it as too little, too late.

They say it’s outrageous that international shipping pays no fuel taxes, unlike lorry owners.

Green groups argue that if ships were taxed at the same level as lorries, 70 times more cash for developing clean engines would be raised in Europe alone.

Around 250m tonnes of fuel a year are burned by ships...

Cutting the speed of ships has huge benefits for humans, nature and the climate, according to a new report. A 20% reduction would cut greenhouse gases but also curb pollutants that damage human health such as black carbon and nitrogen oxides. This speed limit would cut underwater noise by 66% and reduce the chances of whale collisions by 78%. UN negotiators will meet in London this week to consider proposals to curb maritime speeds.

Ships, of all sorts and sizes, transport around 80% of the world’s goods by volume. However they are also responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse emissions thanks to the burning of fuel.

Shipping generates roughly 3% of the global total of warming gases – that’s roughly the same quantity as emitted by Germany.

While shipping wasn’t covered...