Minister considers duty on bunker oil
SHIPPING: Minister of Climate Connie Hedegaard finds it illogical that ship fuel is excluded from the Kyoto protocol. The minister believes that the ships should be included in a climate agreement expected to be settled in Copenhagen in December. One of the possible outcomes will be duty on bunker oil, according to the minister.
"It is illogical that aeroplane and ship fuel is excluded of the Kyoto protocol. It should therefore somehow be included in a climate agreement in Copenhagen in December. If we for instance added duty to bunker oil for ships, it would be according to the principle the polluter pays", says Connie Hedegaard.
"It would be a way to obtain billions of euro - money which could be spent on getting new technology to developing countries", says the minister.
The statement from the Minister of Climate comes after the publication of a draft on a global climate agreement from the European Commission last Wednesday. In this, the Commission suggests that EU should go alone in CO2 reductions in shipping, if IMO does not reach a global climate agreement.
This is a plan that Prime Minister of Denmark Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Danish Shipowners' Association strongly warn against.
"We agree with the Prime Minister and are working by all channels to reach an international agreement, which we believe we will reach in the end", says vice president Danish Shipowners' Association Jan Fritz Hansen to maritimedanmark.dk
Another way of financing is, according to Connie Hedegaard, to put 5 percent of the future licenses of CO2 discharge up to auction, after which the money could be added to a fund and be earmarked for the developing countries, in the way Norway has suggested.
"There are not many believing that we do not need additional types of financing. It could be a way to help the very poorest countries to adjust to the climate changes", says Minister of Climate Connie Hedegaard.
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Source: The Daily Jyllands-Posten
