A robust Polar Code is more important than ever

Opinion by Antoine Kedzierski
It would be wrong to say that nobody benefits from global warming. Some people may end up doing quite well out of it because of the changes it brings. And one of these changes is that melting ice in the Arctic opens up new trans-polar shipping routes. Ideally, they wouldn’t exist, because global temperatures would have stayed within acceptable levels. But because the Arctic is already warming twice as rapidly as the rest of the globe, these routes do exist. Some are seeing this as an opportunity, but we have to be very careful.

EU car emissions test ‘deceiving customers’

The gap between what cars emit in reality and what they are officially measured as emitting has grown to nearly a quarter, and continues to grow. A report by T&E says this gap and its growth is caused by car makers’ manipulation of testing procedures, and it explains how this is done. T&E says the current test regime is not fit for purpose, a new test should replace it by 2016, and follow-up checks should be carried out on cars to show their results are consistent with the official test results.

Ministers still reluctant to accept full impact of biofuels

The battle to get the full environmental impact of biofuels recognised in EU legislation is still slow to make progress. Despite a letter from eight NGOs and a study from the Netherlands, EU energy ministers, in a meeting last month, did not even support the Commission’s proposed 5% cap on ‘first generation’ biofuels. At the same time, two new studies from the EU’s Joint Research Centre confirm that biofuels with high indirect land-use change emissions will cause more greenhouse gas emissions than petrol and diesel.

Hedegaard challenges Obama on tar sands

The EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard has told an audience in America that the EU will stick to its proposal to classify fuel extracted from tar sands as more polluting than conventional petrol and diesel.

ICCT warns Commission on ‘weight v footprint’ debate

An international study has warned the EU that it risks getting an important detail wrong in plans to limit carbon dioxide emissions from new cars. The International Council for Clean Transportation (ICCT) says basing the EU’s emissions standards on the weight of a vehicle will make it much harder and more expensive to achieve targets and instead a vehicle’s ‘footprint’ should be the guiding factor.

Only a global pricing measure can keep aviation carbon-neutral, says scientist

A study by one of the world’s leading climate scientists says only a global market-based measure, such as a tradable price for CO2 emissions, will keep the growth of aviation carbon-neutral. The finding contradicts the line given by opponents of the EU’s plans for aviation emissions trading, and comes at a critical time in international efforts to tackle the climatic impacts of air transport. In a separate development, MEPs and Member States have sent a signal to international negotiators that the EU’s gesture to delay the enforcement of emissions trading is limited to one year, and time is running out.

European Environment Agency critical of shipping air pollution

The shipping sector has been described as ‘one of the most unregulated sources of air pollution’. In a report on shipping, the European Environment Agency (EEA) says emissions from the sector have ‘increased substantially’ over the last two decades. Nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter (PM2.5) levels have risen by as much as 35-55% between 1990 and 2010, and nitrogen oxide emissions could increase so much in the coming years that they could be equal to land-based sources by 2020.

Governments reluctant to fund recharging points

The initiative by the EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas to increase the number of recharging and refuelling points for vehicles that run on alternative fuels has run into problems, with several transport ministers refusing to commit to spending the necessary money.