Shipping emissions plan

After the failure of the Copenhagen talks to take radical action on emissions, the World Shipping Council – which represents 90% of the global capacity of the shipping industry – has proposed an international standard to control CO2.   The Vessel Emission Standard will apply to new build and existing ships, and will specify permitted emissions and fuel consumption.  The shipping industry produces 3% of total CO2 emissions per annum, and the standard is designed to reduce these to a minimum.  The fees which will be imposed if the vessels do not meet the standard would be put into a fund to improve emissions for the industry.