In an odd twist of international policy, China seems to be beating the green drum while the US turns its back. Is this good news?
China, the country whose belligerence at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009 led to the failure of a deal being struck has changed its tune, just as the US, whose policies were strong under Barack Obama, seems to be about to change its.
This changing tide of climate opinion coupled with European pressure on the IMO to strike a strong climate roadmap could spell additional uncertainty for shipowners.
China’s Ministry for Environment Protection recently published a story from state owned news site China Daily promoting President Xi Jinping’s support for the subsequent Paris Agreement struck in 2015. The argument that China was investing in renewable energy both domestically and internationally came with a belief that the country could meet its greenhouse cap by 2025 instead of 2030 and highlights its drive to cap coal use and plans for a carbon cap and trade programme.
“That China has taken the initiative on acquiring clean technologies is quite timely. Its new industries are manufacturing electric cars, batteries, nuclear power and wind, solar and geo-thermal technologies. As an illustration, nearly 200 million electric vehicles have been sold in China already and this trend may be catching up in other countries soon,” claimed China Daily.
China’s interest in cleantech, and a cap and trade system comes as Europe considers whether shipping should be pulled into the region’s revised emissions trading scheme and a common societal push globally for cleantech as a result of the UNFCCC deal. Related to this, and showing China’s developing view on clean air, are attempts to ensure cleaner gasoline is used by cars and the development of a sulphur emission control area for shipping in Chinese waters around a number of the country’s ports.
The US has said it plans to effectively abrogate its responsibilities under the Paris Agreement thanks to President Trump’s denial of climate science. The result of this could be the US withdrawal from the UNFCCC or it pulling out of the Paris Agreement. Either way it has a potential impact on how climate policies the world, influence shipping companies
The US president has questioned climate science, and called for a hard look at a wide range of environmental rules. He has, as has been well reported, made favourable nods towards the US coal industry. The signals from Trump have alarmed many and increased the belief that the UNFCCC deal may be under jeapordy, as well as making a deal at the IMO more difficult.
The lobby groups think that the Panama and Marshall Island flags may follow the US lead, although there remains some friction between the Marshall Island government, which as a low island pacific state is a strong supporter of climate action, and the US-based administrators of the Marshall Islands Flag, which has been more diplomatically neutral on the matter.
The fear of failure at the IMO, especially with the Trump uncertainty, is one of the reasons the green lobby groups support the proposal for bringing shipping into an EU scheme. They see it as an insurance policy.
Kathy Metcalf, president and chief executive at the Chamber of Shipping of America thinks that the green lobby fears are unfounded.
“Personally I don’t see any impact on shipping if the US withdraws from the Paris Agreement/UNFCCC,” she tells Fathom pointing to amongst other tings, the minimal size of the US flagged fleet.
“While President Obama was the most “active” US President in recent history on this issue, the withdrawal of the US will not alter the beliefs by other countries that progress in some form needs to be made in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”
Other shipowner groups are not so sure. “We are concerned with the signals coming from Washington DC and the administration,” the Danish Shipowners’ Association says, adding that they will be looking at how the US engages with discussions relating to the IMO road map to curb shipping’s emissions. (There is a summer meeting of the IMO’s marine environment protection committee as well as a special meeting to discuss the Organization’s plans for a CO2 roadmap).
“The US has played a pivotal role in developing the concept of the IMO three step approach to climate action and it would be very detrimental should the US change its position completely. That would undoubtedly have a spill-over effect in terms of other countries losing their appetite on moving forward with the road map and strategy for the industry’s CO2 reduction.”
The fear is that this could undermine IMO as the global regulator of shipping and pave the way for regional legislation such as the EU ETS. The hope is that the IMO will be able to push ahead, and eliminate the need for the European Union political body to create a regional CO2 measure for shipping.
Fathom-News
editor@fathom-mi.com
