WWF calls for international shipping pollution cuts

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) wants to see action taken in order to reduce the amount of pollution produced by the international shipping sector.

It has called on the UK government to work towards a global agreement with other countries and has suggested introducing a carbon price of $25 (£15.50) per tonne on shipping fuel.

This comes after the UK's Committee on Climate Change (CCC) asked for urgent measures to be put in place to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions from boats.

Head of climate change at WWF-UK Keith Allott highlighted the importance of tackling pollution produced by both the shipping and aviation industries if Britain is to achieve its goal of cutting emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

"The government needs to listen to the CCC and include emissions from shipping and aviation in the UK Climate Change Act and carbon budgets," he remarked.

Controversy is surrounding EU air clean-up legislation relating to the airline sector, as US carriers are unhappy about having to pay when they exceed their carbon allocation when operating in Europe.

Posted by Joseph Hutton