EMEA News
UK Seeks to Link to EU-ETS: Report
The UK government is reportedly considering ways of linking to the EU's emissions trading system as part of seeking a closer relationship with Brussels.
The UK has requested that ETS linkage be included on the agenda for a spring summit between it and the EU in March or April, the Financial Times reported this week, citing two EU officials with knowledge of the discussion.
While the EU-ETS has included all ships over 5,000 GT in size since the start of last year, the UK-ETS currently plans only to include emissions from domestic shipping - not international - from the start of next year.
The UK was seeking feedback on its plans for the inclusion of shipping in its ETS from November 2024 to earlier this month.
At present, ships can in some cases add UK ports as their penultimate destination before reaching the EU as a means of reducing their exposure to EU-ETS compliance costs. With route plans like this, only the voyage from the UK port to the EU will be counted for the purposes of EU-ETS compliance, rather than the full voyage from elsewhere in the world.
