European tax strategies for shipping emissions reduction to protect human health and biodiversity

Considering that current taxes on ship emissions are uncommon and that these emissions cause severe damage to health and biodiversity, the purpose of this chapter is to analyze the few European tax strategies that are being implemented or proposed to reduce shipping emissions and improve air quality. Specifically, we will focus on the Norwegian tax on NOx and on the regulation and impact of the Catalan proposal for a tax on emissions from large ships. The final conclusion is that these are important steps toward the development of environmental taxation worldwide for the protection of health and biodiversity. Warnings about the serious damage caused by these emissions suggest that these taxes will soon be replicated in other countries, making it useful for them to learn from the successes and failures of the current measures and proposals.