Page 118 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - MARTIOS 2023

MARITIME POLICY

The European Union (EU) has been pursuing an ambitious policy on climate action and has No 1031/2010), which uses a benchmark for the shipping in the EU-ETS as of 2023. In December
put in place a regulatory framework to achieve its 2030 Green House gas emission reduc- allocation of allowances, i.e., a reference value 2019, the European Commission announced it was
tion target. 1 for greenhouse gas emissions in CO2 relative to considering incorporating the maritime sector into
production activity, which does not represent an the EU-ETS.
1 Directive 2003/87/EC; Regulation 2018/842; Regulation 2018/841; Communication of the 28th November 2018; “Clean Energy for emission limit or an emissions reduction target. The EU strategy on the GHG emissions of the shipping
All Europeans” package, (Directives 2012/27/EU, 2018/2001/EU, 2010/31/EU). In addition, an MRV reporting and verification Shipping is of strategic importance to the EU’s
system considered essential to emissions trading economy, as every year, 2 billion tonnes of cargo
are loaded and unloaded at EU ports.
was introduced that complied with the Monitoring
THE IMPLICATIONS and Reporting Regulation (MRR) 2018/2066 (19 However, in 2015, emissions from shipping
December 2018) and was based on principles
represented around 13% of the total greenhouse
OF THE EU ETS such as completeness, transparency, continuous gas emissions of the entire EU transport sector.
improvement, etc. Furthermore, the annual EU ETS
Furthermore, in 2018, global shipping emissions
AND EUROPEAN compliance cycle includes steps for operators, represented 1,076 million tonnes of CO2, accounting
for almost 2.9% of global emissions from human
such as the beginning of the monitoring period,
GREEN DEAL receiving free allowances (if applicable) for the activities. In 2019, maritime transport was an emitter
current year, the end of the monitoring period, etc.
of over 144 million tonnes of CO2.
ON SHIPPING If a company fails to meet the system’s deadlines In 2013, the European Commission set out a strategy
towards reducing GHG emissions from the shipping
for surrendering GHG emissions allowances, it runs
the risk of triggering enforcement procedures, such industry, which consists of the following steps:
as fines, and the shortfall in compliance is added to – Monitoring, reporting, and verifying CO2
the compliance target of the following year. emissions from large ships that use EU
ports,
THE EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL – Greenhouse gas reduction targets for the
The European Green Deal is an action plan, a maritime transport sector
THE EU-ETS European climate law, which aims to turn Europe – Further measures.
The EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is the European Union’s climate neutral by 2050. It was launched in 2019 – From 1 January 2018, large ships over
policy to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas with the Communication (COM (2019) 640 final) 5000 gross tonnage, loading and
emissions. It is an environmental law set up in 2005, which (see also, COM (2020) 80 final). According to the unloading cargo or passengers at ports
works on the “cap and trade” principle and offers an incentive European Green Deal, all Union policies should in the European Economic Area (EEA), are
to invest in renewable energy technology. The greenhouse gases contribute to the climate-neutrality objective, and all to monitor and report their related CO2
it covers are carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and sectors should play their part. In 2017, the European emissions and other relevant information.
perfluorocarbons (PFCs). Parliament voted in favour of including international – The amendment to the EU ETS Directive
In line with the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, in March 2000, the European
Commission presented the Green Paper containing the initial
design of the EU ETS, which led to the adoption of the EU ETS
Directive in 2003. Its implementation was initially divided into
three phases (trading periods), but the system underwent several
changes, and presently it does not have an end date. As a “cap
and trade” scheme, the EU ETS works by capping the overall
GHG emissions of all participants in the system. The legislation
created allowances, meaning rights to emit GHG emissions
[equivalent to the global warming potential of 1 tonne of CO2
equivalent (tCO2e)], which are allocated freely or by auction.
During the first two phases, the free allocation of allowances
was decided via National Allocation Plans (NAPs), which are no
longer used. In addition, member-states were required to prepare
“allocation” measures (National Implementation Measures, NIMs),
which the Commission checked and approved; the allocation
method was determined by EU-ETS Directive & Implementing
Commission decision 2011/278 EU.
In phase 3 of the EU ETS (2013-2020), the Union-wide cap for
by enterprises covered by the emissions trading scheme decreased
Marina Aliferopoulou, each year by a linear reduction factor of 1.74% - at the end
Lawyer, LL.M. of each year, the participants had to return an allowance for
Mediator every tonne of CO2e they emitted during the year. From the
PhD candidate, University of the Aegean,
Department of Shipping Trade and Transport third trading period onwards, the auctioning of allowances has
been governed by the Auctioning Regulation (EU Regulation

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