The extension of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to maritime transport came into effect in January 2024, marking a significant milestone in the EU’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping.
This extension brings new obligations for shipping companies. Each year, they have to purchase and surrender emission allowances to cover the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere, linked to their activities under the ETS scope.
Careful monitoring of implementation and effectiveness is essential to ensure the system delivers on its objectives, while avoiding unintended economic, environmental and operational risks. This is the reason why the EU ETS Directive requires the Commission to monitor the implementation of the ETS extension to maritime transport and report its findings every two years.
One of the objectives of this monitoring clause is to detect possible changes in shipping companies’ behaviours at an early stage, notably the ones trying to evade the requirements of the EU ETS Directive. If appropriate, the EU ETS Directive requires the Commission to propose measures to ensure an effective implementation of the ETS in shipping, in particular measures to address possible risks of evasion.
In addition, the monitoring clause covers other possible impacts of the EU ETS extension to maritime transport, such as possible transport cost increases, implications in terms of competitiveness or impacts on those shipping services that constitute essential services of territorial continuity, including giving consideration to the EU outermost regions, which represent the most remote parts of the EU.
This report describes the work undertaken so far to monitor the impacts of the extension of the EU ETS to maritime transport, with a focus on the potential evasive behaviours. The analysis presented in this report builds on a study carried out by a consortium of contractors.
For more information, please see the European Commission report here.
