News
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has officially opposed the EU's plan to expand its carbon market to shipping, saying it could impact the shipping industry globally after the decision was taken under the limited number of EU member countries.
The comment of the Japanese government was delivered by Shinichiro Otsubo, director general of the ministry's maritime bureau, to director generals for climate action and mobility and transport of the European Commission.
Otsubo has pointed out that EU’s unilateral regional actions to include shipping in the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) would not effectively reduce the GHG emissions in this global sector but would even discourage investments in decarbonizing technologies and hinder global momentum to establish further measures at the IMO, particularly the global market-based measures.
When the European Parliament in September last year voted for the inclusion of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ocean-going ships over 5,000 gross tons in the EU-ETS by January 1, 2022, Japan, South Korea and international shipping bodies had expressed their oppositions to the plan.
