RPT-Europe raises pressure for ship emissions curbs

* EU prepares measures to cap shipping industry emissions

* EU favours Emissions Trading Scheme approach

(Repeats to remove duplication of story)

By Aasa Christine Stoltz

OSLO, June 9 (Reuters) - The European Commission is preparing measures to cap carbon emissions from shipping if the global maritime industry fails to come up with its own proposals soon, an official of the EU executive body said on Tuesday.

A Copenhagen conference in December is due to agree a successor to the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on fighting climate change, and the shipping industry faces mounting pressure to bring forward a system to curb emissions.

"I can assure you that we are already preparing possible European measures that could be introduced in the event of a failure to reach any wider international global agreement," Dimitri Giotakos, the European Commission's representative, said in a speech at a shipping conference in Oslo.

"Faced with the lack of progress...in the IMO (International Maritime Organization), the council of EU (European Union) and the EU parliament has repeatedly asked the EU Commission to take action," he said.

"We have a clear preference for ETS (emissions trading system)," he told a news conference.

Giotakos said a decision would be made after the Copenhagen talks but that the Commission hoped the industry would come up with a system itself.

"The time has come to take firm actions, that's why we need a mandatory system," Giotakos said, adding that to get results, a system would need to be enforceable, measurable and provide for a sanction mechanism for those who do not abide by it.

Scientists say shipping accounts for around 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, almost twice the level pumped out by aviation.

Last year, the EU formally approved the inclusion of aviation emissions in the 27-nation bloc's $92 billion trading scheme from 2012.

As a result, all commercial airlines flying into and out of EU airports will be forced to surrender carbon permits.

Under the scheme, any company that emits over its quota must buy additional permits from those that have cut their emissions.

PROGRESS

The IMO said the industry had made considerable progress towards more environmentally friendly solutions but admitted that more work was needed.

"We are closing in on viable solutions," IMO Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos said.

Mitropoulos said the process was taking time due to the complexity of the issues, and highlighted the importance of not leaving developing countries out of the discussions.

"We cannot afford not to have them on board, because we need decision by consensus," he said.

The Norwegian Shipowner's Association said time was running out, and called for immediate action. "Our preferred route would be an emission trading system," said Elisabeth Grieg, President of the association.

Grieg questioned if the industry's measures were as good as they say. "Would environmentalist agree if they were here today? I don't know."

The chairman and chief executive of cruise shipper Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL.OL)(RCL.N), Richard Fain, said environmental issues were returning to the forefront of the U.S. agenda under President Barack Obama.

"If we do not work together, and aggressively, to find reasonable and practical solutions to climate change, then unreasonable and impractical solutions will be pressed upon us," Fain added. (Reporting by Aasa Christine Stoltz; Additional reporting by Michael Szabo in London; Editing by Anthony Barker)