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= The EU's role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry =

General facts on the shipping industry’s emissions
The shipping industry is responsible for 3% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions) annually. This amount will increase by as much as 150-250% by 2050 if the shipping industry continues with business as usual. In the EU the shipping industry is responsible for 3-4% of the EU’s total CO2 emissions, amounting to 144 million tons of CO2 in 2019. CO2 emissions from the shipping industry account for about a quarter of all EU transportation-related emissions.

The EU strategy to reduce GHG emissions from shipping
The EU’s economy is heavily dependent on maritime transport. At the same time, the EU is dependent on the reductions from the shipping industry, to meet the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal. As the shipping industry is a global industry, it is difficult to regulate GHG emissions regionally and locally, as there is a big risk of carbon leakage and pollution transfer. The EU, therefore, preferred a global approach led by the IMO. However, as, the IMO has not taken the necessary action to regulate the industry, the EU has now taken actions to regulate regionally. The EU strategy for reducing GHG emissions from the shipping industry was published in 2013 by the EU Commission:

The approach encompasses a series of three successive actions:


 * 1) Monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of CO2 emissions generated by large vessels when they access ports within the EU.
 * 2) Setting targets to reduce GHG emissions specifically within the maritime transportation industry.
 * 3) Implementing additional measures, such as market-based strategies, in the medium to long term.

A brief explanation of the EU’s climate goals and the EU Emission Trading System
The EU wants to be a green world leader, which is reflected in the European Green Deal that was voted through in 2020. The target of the Green Deal is a 55% reduction in the EU’s GHG emissions by 2030 and to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. To achieve this goal, the EU has made an Emission Trading System (ETS), which was introduced in 2005 to limit GHG emissions from various industries, but not from the shipping industry. The EU ETS operates on a market-based approach, following the principle of the 'polluter pays'. As a result, the cost of purchasing allowances is determined by the market price of carbon emissions, which is influenced by the interaction between supply and demand. However, the EU has now launched a new ‘Fit for 55’ package, to help the EU meet its climate goals. In the ‘Fit for 55’ package, the EU has included specific regulatory legislation for the maritime sector, including the inclusion of shipping in the EU ETS. The package also proposes the adoption of the FuelEU Maritime Directive, which sets specific GHG intensity limits for energy used on board ships, starting from the year 2025.

The specific measures proposed in the EU ‘Fit for 55’ package are set out below. They address barriers to the decarbonisation of the sector, such as economic barriers, technological barriers etc.


 * 1) Inclusion of the shipping industry in the EU ETS. This creates a price on carbon, which should reduce the industry’s GHG emissions flexibly and cost-effectively.
 * 2) Setting a cap on the proportion of GHG in the energy used by ships using European ports. This will stimulate demand for renewable and low-carbon marine fuels.
 * 3) Strengthening alternative fuel infrastructure. This would set mandatory targets for shore-side electricity supply at maritime and inland waterways ports.
 * 4) A revision of the Renewable Energy Directive. This will increase the EU's current target of 32% renewables in the overall energy mix to at least 40% renewables by 2030.
 * 5) They will revisit the existing Energy Taxation Directive. This directive aims to align the taxation of energy products with the EU climate goals.

The history of the inclusion of the shipping industry in the EU ETS
Although the EU is now taking measures to regulate and govern the shipping industry, it has taken 18 years to include the shipping industry in the EU ETS and the industry has been unregulated on a global level until now. Below is the story behind the EU's path to taking the final decision in April 2023 on choosing to include the shipping industry in its ETS.

The global nature of the shipping industry has made it difficult to measure emissions and attribute them to nations. The consequence of this has been, that the industry has been excluded from many of the measures and targets that have been implemented at the global level, such as the Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol. Official EU documents and the literature make it clear that the EU has relied on the IMO to regulate the shipping industry in terms of reducing GHG emissions but since the IMO has not done so, the EU has taken measures into its own hands.

It all started back in 2010 when the IMO began discussing the possibility of introducing a market-based measure to control the GHG emissions from the shipping industry. This included the possibility of a global emissions trading scheme. However, in 2013, the IMO decided to suspend the discussion on a market-based measure for the shipping industry until a future session. After that, nothing happened on the IMO agenda until 2017. Here, the EU Parliament voted in favour of including the shipping industry in the EU ETS from 2023, unless the IMO itself came up with a comparable scheme by 2021. In 2017 the EU also presented the EU MRV Regulation "The Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification, as a first step in a wider process of collecting and analysing emissions data from the shipping industry (see more on the EU MRV in the subsection at the bottom of this site). As there was still no action at a global level in 2020, the EU chose to commit to including shipping in its own ETS, and this was reaffirmed when the European Commission presented the EU's ‘Fit for 55' package in July 2021. The EU Council and the EU Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on a reform of the EU ETS in December 2022 and the Council formally adopted the new legislation on 25 April 2023. Thus, the EU gave the IMO a four-year warning to adopt a policy to reduce GHG emissions from shipping and exerted pressure on the IMO to progress faster with the GHG reductions, not much has happened, and the EU still thinks that the IMO is moving too slowly forward with the regulations. An official EU document from 2022 describes the IMO's effort as more than disappointing: "IMO actions with respect to reducing or eliminating the GHG emissions of the shipping industry are generally perceived to be slow, too late, weak, and unambitious"

Even though the EU has exerted significant pressure on the IMO, they are still willing to cooperate, should the IMO develop some regulations that meet the EU's standards. This is demonstrated by the EU's willingness to adjust the scope of the ETS to align with a global market-based target, should the IMO decide to develop one. The scope of the ETS can thus either be extended to cover 100% of voyages to and from EU ports if IMO measures are deemed insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement targets. At the same time, they can also be reduced to avoid a double burden should the IMO implement a sufficient market-based target.

Another factor that has contributed to the EU taking action now, is the fact that the EU is dependent on reductions from the shipping industry to deliver on its commitments under the UNFCCC. If the sector were to be left unregulated and therefore less involved in achieving the necessary reductions of emissions, other industries would have to compensate more. These industries would then, knowing that, put pressure on the EU institutions to take action, knowing there is much more that can be done cost-effectively to reduce GHG emissions from shipping.

In conclusion, the literature agrees that the EU has just only begun to regulate the shipping industry’s GHG emissions because they were hoping for a global regulatory regime led by the IMO. But due to the lack of action from the IMO, the EU has now taken matters into its own hands and included the shipping industry in the EU ETS among other things.

The specific content of the agreement to include the shipping industry in the EU ETS
The specific agreement to reform the EU ETS is to revise the existing ETS so that the shipping industry will now also have to buy allowances to cover the cost of the CO2 emissions it produces. The proposal will initially apply only to ships of 5000 GT or more, carrying passengers or cargo for commercial purposes. In addition, ships sailing only within the EU will have to pay for all the CO2 they emit. Ships crossing either into or out of EU waters will have to pay for 50% of the CO2 they emit. This is regardless of how much of the ship's voyage takes place within EU borders. Furthermore, all emissions from port calls in the EU are also included.

As the EU ETS is based on the "polluter pays" principle, this means that for each ship, the ship owner, operator, or ship manager is responsible for surrendering the ETS allowances. The EU is proposing a binding clause in the charter agreement that the cost of emissions is to be "passed on" to charterers. They have proposed this because it is often not the shipowners who make the operational decisions on the ship's speed, cargo, route and are responsible for purchasing fuel.

Under the agreement, the shipping industry will be phased into the EU ETS gradually, allowing stakeholders to adapt over time. From 2023, shipping companies will have to correctly record their emissions and start paying from 2024. However, shipping companies will only have to pay for part of their verified emissions in 2024, namely 40%. This share will then gradually increase each year, paying 70% of their verified emissions in 2025, with a final target of paying for 100% of their verified emissions emitted in 2026.

Most of the large ships are included in the EU ETS from the outset, but some are continually excluded from the scheme. These are mainly offshore ships. These will be included in the MRV Regulation and then later in the EU ETS. Vessels between 400 and 5000 GT transporting general cargo and offshore ships will from 2025 also have to report to the EU MRV system. It has not yet been decided when they will be included in the EU ETS. Offshore ships that are larger than 5000 GT, will be included in the EU MRV Regulation from 2025 and in the EU ETS from 2027.

Furthermore, will non-CO2 emissions such as methane and N2O also be included in the MRV Regulations from 2024 and in the EU ETS from 2026.

The FuelEU Maritime Directive
This directive is part of the EU’s 'Fit for 55' package and aims to address the urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions from the shipping industry. The directive sets a specific GHG intensity limit for the energy that can be used on board ships, starting from 2025. The idea is that the GHG intensity limit will become tighter over the years. This should lead to a 75% reduction in energy consumption by 2050 compared to 2020, which is the base year for the implementation of the directive. The point is that the directive will encourage shipping companies and ship owners to use alternative fuels or energy sources to stay below the GHG intensity limit.

The directive applies to all ships with a gross tonnage of more than 5000 GT, regardless of the flag they fly. The directive is structured in such a way that it applies to the energy consumed by a ship while it is berthed in the port of a Member State. In addition, it applies to 100% of the energy, consumed by a ship when sailing between ports of two EU Member States and to 50% of the energy consumed by a ship when sailing from a port of an EU Member State to a port of a third country. This is in line with the way the shipping industry’s CO2 quotas will be calculated in the EU ETS.

EU MRV Regulation
EU MRV Regulation stands for "Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification” and is mandatory. The EU MRV was launched in January 2018 as the first step in a wider process of collecting and analysing emissions data from the shipping industry.

The EU MRV Regulation requires the company operating the ship to submit an emissions monitoring plan to an independent and accredited verifier within two months of the ship's first call at an EU port. The monitoring plan must include the following: a description of the ship and its installed combustion machinery, the types of fuel used, the monitoring methods used, and other relevant information. This will result in a verified emissions report, that companies will have to submit to the Commission and to the states where their ships are registered. The submitted emissions report will then be verified and ships sailing within the EU will have to always carry a document of compliance with the EU Thetis MRV emissions report on board.

Today, the EU MRV only applies to ships above 5000 GT traveling on EU-related voyages, but as we know from the section on “The specific content of the agreement to include the shipping industry in the EU ETS”, other ship types will be included in the future.