Shipping
Europe is a maritime powerhouse. Many of the world’s biggest shipping companies are based on the continent and the EU is leading the way on green policies. The green transition of the industry presents industrial opportunities in the form of new supply chains based on hydrogen-based fuels, batteries and clean technologies like wind assistance.
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EU Activity based well-to-wake shipping emissions, 2024 224 MtCO2e
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Global maritime trade volume in 2024 12.6bn tonnes
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EU’s share of maritime trade in 2024 27%
Europe has the world’s most ambitious green maritime regulations. These are incentivising European fuel producers to invest in green technologies.
25% of methanol-capable ships and 57% of ammonia-capable ship orders come from European shipping companies. The EU is only second behind China when it comes to battery-powered vessels.
More than half of green tech vessels sail to or from Europe. Strong regulations in the EU can therefore support change elsewhere.
In the last few years, orders for battery-electric newbuilds and retrofits have increased markedly in number and size. Better technical specifications and rapidly falling prices for batteries have made electrification more and more attractive for short-sea shipping.
Europe and China are the leaders when it comes to the number of battery - electric vessels operating and on order. Ferries represent the bulk of battery electric ships in Europe. At the same time, China is trialing swappable batteries for container ships, with a recent spike in new orders.
Port electrification
Electrifying ports will play a key role in supporting the decarbonisation of the shipping industry.
How to fund it
The Maritime ETS is set to raise as much as €11bn by 2030. These are important revenues that can be reinvested in green shipping. Many countries will have significant funds to work with. The maritime ETS revenues go into the single ETS pot which is then redistributed according to each member states' GHG emissions 2005 baseline.
Sources:
Overall WtW CO2e emissions are calculated by T&E based on the 2024 MRV data. We assumed emissions from smaller vessels comprise 19.6% of total EU-linked shipping emissions, based on previous T&E research.
CO2 and CO2e emissions on voyages between countries are estimated by T&E using AIS data and the bottom-up methodology defined in the Fourth IMO Greenhouse Gas Study, applied to merchant vessels in 2024.
Potential revenues raised from the ETS are calculated by T&E based on the estimated voyage-based GHG emissions above.
Global maritime trade volume for 2024 is sourced from Clarksons. EU trade volume for 2024 is sourced from Eurostat.
The number of vessels operating with alternative fuels or batteries is sourced from Clarksons.