A global carbon tax or the application of sanctions as part of rules on a global standard on marine fuels are two solutions that will not lead to the objective of decarbonise maritime transport unless Use both. Transport & Environment says so (T&E), the independent organisation that promotes the decarbonisation of transport in Europe by 2050, which – with reference to the work of the 82nd session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ongoing in London - highlighted the need for travel the two paths at the same time.

T&E recalled that on the one hand there are those who support the carbon tax as part of the "polluter pays" principle, to be applied also to the shipping, and on the other hand there are those who are pressing for a system of penalties under a system based on a Global Fuel Standard (GFS) whose purpose is to promote the use of clean fuels in the maritime transport sector, with some - T&E specified - who argue that there is no need for a tax on the carbon if penalties are applied for non-compliance to the GFS.

For T&E, however, even with an ambitious GFS standard on the in the coming decades, the vast majority of emissions of shipping would escape the payment of costs and this would not allow to raise funds to create a fair and just energy transition. For the organization, only a combined adoption of the GFS standard and a global tax on greenhouse gas companies could help ensure that start to bear the costs of their emissions and that this helps to finance the decarbonisation of the shipping.