Brussels, 04/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 3 December in Brussels, MEPs from the European Parliament's environment committee approved the informal agreement reached in the trialogue on 18 November, on the European regulation to introduce a system in the EU for monitoring, providing information and verifying CO2 emissions from large vessels of more than 5,000 gross tonnage that use EU ports (EUROPE 11205 and 11200). The agreement was confirmed by a very large majority (62 votes in favour, with 5 abstentions).
EU 28 ambassadors at Coreper also approved the agreement on 26 November. It is now up to the European Parliament and Council, as a final formality, to ensure that this regulation is formally adopted. This future legislation is the first step towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the maritime transport sector. The EU regulation will be revised as soon as an international agreement on reducing CO2 emissions is reached at the IMO. (AN)