EU regulators have little to fear from shipping companies evading the bloc’s carbon market if it is applied to long-distance voyages, a new study shows. The shipping industry has warned that operators would make evasive port calls in neighbouring non-EU countries to avoid buying pollution permits for the whole voyage. But, at most, 7% of ships calling at EU ports would benefit from avoidance at today’s carbon price, according to an analysis by Transport & Environment (T&E).
To evaluate the risk of policy evasion under a future maritime ETS, the report performs a cost-benefit analysis of evasive port calls to determine the cost effectiveness from the shipowner’s perspective. The analysis is based on the case studies of three countries with major seaports in close proximity to a non-EEA port: Greece, Spain and the Netherlands.
It does so for both a full and a semi-full scope ETS design to evaluate the risk of policy evasion under a future maritime ETS.
The key conclusions are:
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