Jacob Armstrong, shipping officer at T&E said: “For the third year running, the biggest shipping emitter has climbed the top 10 of Europe’s largest polluters. It’s emblematic of an industry that doesn’t pay a cent for its pollution. That a ship operator is overtaking coal plants shows that business as usual isn’t working. We need an EU carbon market that makes shipping pay for all its pollution.”
Jacob Armstrong said: “Anything less than a carbon market covering extra-European voyages lets the biggest shipping companies off the hook and leaves smaller operators who sail mainly within Europe to pick up the tab. It would also forfeit ETS revenues that could be reinvested in greening the sector.”
Notes to editors:
[1] In 2020, MSC emitted 10.9Mt of CO2 on all voyages departing or arriving at European ports – a slight decrease (3%) on 2019. However, this total is expected to rise as individual ships report their emissions late.
[2] T&E analysed the 5th version of the 2020 MRV database accessible here:
https://mrv.emsa.europa.eu/#public/emission-report
See T&E’s methodology here:
https://www.transportenvironment.org/sites/te/files/MRV_methodology_PR_2021.pdf
