Shippings Impact on Climate Change

Estimates reported by the European Commission indicate that global shipping is

responsible for about 1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions every year. About 10%
of that is from sea transport, while the balance is divided among road, air, and rail
transport, as well as pipeline losses. By the year 2050, carbon emissions are
expected to double unless drastic changes are made now.
The current trend in increased emissions due to shipping is incompatible with the
United Nations recent declaration that, by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions must
be reduced between 40% and 70%. By 2100, they need to be all but eliminated.
Why the urgency? The UN reports that, unless measures are taken now, there will be a continued
escalation in natural disaster events, such as heat waves, rising seas, and floods because of an increase
in global temperature brought on, in great part, by carbon emissions. Fortunately, the European
Commission and the shipping industry are heeding the warning.
The Strategy
The European Commission released a report in June 2013 that integrated the plan
for a reduction in maritime transport emissions into the greenhouse gas emission
reduction policies that the EU had already put into place. Their strategy consists of
three major steps:
Owners of large ships who use EU ports should monitor, report and verify (MRV) carbon emissions.
Reduction of targeted greenhouse gas emissions and costs in the maritime shipping sector through an MRV system.
Medium and long range measures, resulting from studying the results of an MRV system.
Reporting
In the same period that the European Commission issued the report it also presented legislation
outlining an EU system to tackle step one, the monitoring of ships that use EU ports. The Commissions
hope is that their system, called MRV (monitor, report, verify), will be in place in time to begin tracking
emissions from 1 January 2018.
In the system, which has active EU member support, a uniform reporting process will be created so ship
owners can readily monitor and then report the amount of CO
2
each of their ships emits. The
information will be collected annually and then, once it is verified, the CO
2
emissions data from all large
ships will be published, regardless of the ships origin.
Emissions and Cost Reduction
The Commissions impact assessment statement estimates that the MRV will cut about 2% of the ships
CO
2
compared to current figures. Thanks to the MRV, by 2030, net costs for the ships owners are
projected to decrease by up to 1.2B per year as well.
The information gleaned from the MRV will also benefit ship owners another way. It will give them
clearer insight into the performance, resale value and operational costs of their ships.
Finally, the EUs proposed MRV system is designed to aid in building an international system focused on
reducing emissions in the transport industry. As emissions data from each ship is collected and studied
over the long term, the insights gathered will help further the goal of reducing emissions because it will
present new opportunities for international dialogue leading to improved efficiency standards for new
and existing ships. While its certainly not a finite solution, through their proposed MRV system, the
European Commission is taking positive steps to reduce carbon emissions in the EUs transport industry.