Source: European Parliament
All sectors, including maritime transport, need to contribute to the EU’s climate neutrality goal by 2050. The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is a key policy to achieve this objective.
The economic and social impacts due to the ETS extension to maritime transport were looked at in the impact assessment[1] that accompanied the legislative proposal in 2021.
Regarding costs, the analysis showed that the estimated impact on commodity prices relevant to European trade was expected to be relatively small (less than one percent price increase by 2030), with a very low effect on demand.
The Commission acknowledges the specific challenges faced by islands. The EU ETS contains derogations allowing Member States to exempt from ETS surrendering obligations until end-2030, voyages by passenger vessels between islands with fewer than 200 000 residents and other ports in the same Member State.
Furthermore, in case of transnational public service contracts established by two Member States, one having no land border with another Member State and the other being the closest, shipping companies do not need to surrender allowances if the Member States decide to exempt such a line.
The Commission will monitor and report biennially on the implementation of the ETS extension to shipping. These reports will analyse possible transport cost increases and impacts on shipping services that constitute essential services of territorial continuity.
The first report will be published in March 2025. If appropriate, the Commission will propose measures to ensure the effective implementation of the system.
Member States can also decide to use their ETS revenues to further encourage the decarbonisation of the maritime sector and may benefit projects connecting islands.
- [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2021:0601:FIN