HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) – The federal government is hoping for a boost for the European shipbuilding industry from strict climate regulations for shipping. “The markets are growing. But when we see where the orders are being placed, it’s unfortunately not in Europe,” said the government’s maritime coordinator, Claudia Müller, on Tuesday at the start of the SMM shipbuilding trade fair in Hamburg. “One of the great opportunities that we have is certainly the development of new technologies and their implementation. Therefore, stricter rules can help the European market in the long term.”
From Müller’s point of view, a decisive step must be the introduction of a price for the emission of the climate-damaging gas CO2, as it already exists in aviation today. “Climate pollution must have a price. Climate-friendly solutions must also become more economical,” said Müller of the dpa. “The industry is ready. Parts of the industry also say that this is an impetus for new technologies.”
With the planned climate goals of the EU (“Fit for 55”), Müller believes that Europe can also become a global engine for the climate-neutral conversion of shipping. The World Shipping Organization IMO, which is responsible for environmental requirements in global shipping, has so far been aiming relatively non-bindingly at only halving emissions of the climate-damaging gas carbon dioxide by 2050 and only becoming climate-neutral by the end of the century. “From my personal point of view, I don’t think the goal is set in stone,” said Müller. “I think we’re going to see regional regulations, which will then be sort of very similar, and that would drive development at the IMO level.”
Around 90 percent of global world trade is handled by international shipping. This is responsible for two to three percent of all CO2 emissions./kf/DP/jha