by Jacob Armstrong, Sustainable Shipping Officer, Transport & Environment

The European Commission's (COM) proposal to include maritime transport in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been hailed as the first step for the shipping industry to address its climate problem.

Nonetheless, ports have voiced concerns that the EU ETS may lead to carbon leakage, where ships call to non-EU ports before finishing their voyage in an EU port for the sole purpose of avoiding the full carbon cost of their journey.

Intuitively, this might sound reasonable, but a closer look at the matter paints a different picture.

Download PDF