The shipping industry is tackling the challenge of carbon emissions head-on, with a new European carbon tax arriving next year. Forward-thinking ship owners will be looking for ways to reduce their carbon impact in order to minimize their tax liability; let’s explore how Everimpact’s real-time emissions measurement system fits in.
A new carbon tax is coming to the European shipping industry. From 2024, all commercial cargo vessels sailing in European waters, or sailing to or from Europe, will be taxed on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is a significant step towards the decarbonisation of the global maritime shipping industry which currently accounts for around 3% of global GHG emissions.
However, this means that, on top of the increased overall tax liability, ship owners also risk paying significantly more tax than required. Current shipping emissions data is reliant on inaccurate estimates, rather than actual measurements, and this inaccuracy poses a major risk.
The new carbon tax puts each vessel into an emissions category, using fuel consumption models and other emissions factors to estimate GHG emissions. Everimpact estimates that these current emissions models overestimate emissions by as much as 10-20%. This means that ship owners could end up paying millions extra in carbon tax, purely because of the imprecise nature of these carbon calculations.
How measuring your emissions--instead of estimating them-could cut your tax
As a ship owner facing the prospect of paying a significant EU carbon tax, you would be advised to explore how you might reduce your tax liability. And given the risk of overpayment based on inaccurate emissions modeling, switching to an onboard GHG emissions measurement system could be the solution you’ve been looking for.
At Everimpact, we are developing innovative solutions to reduce GHG emissions in the shipping industry. Our onboard system is designed to provide real-time measurement of GHGs (including CO2 and methane), through measuring the emissions directly from the vessel's funnel, so you can precisely track and report your emissions in real time. This granular level of detail allows you to better understand the impact of various decarbonization measures, such as green fuels, and not rely on estimates.
Using our system, you will pay tax only on your actual carbon emissions, rather than on an inaccurate estimation of them.
The power of accurate emissions data
We recently modeled the possible carbon tax savings for a ship sailing in European waters, using the assumption that measured carbon emissions are 10% lower than fuel-based estimates. We calculated that a large commercial vessel sailing 100% of its time in the EU could save over €1M in EU ETS tax over 2024-2026.
Get on board our pilot program
Everimpact is launching an early-adopter program to fine-tune our onboard emissions measurement system. We expect to prove our hypothesis that measured emissions should be 10 to 20% lower than estimated emissions.
The program is open to select ship owners, who will be able to customize the solution to their needs, and get early measurements of the actual emissions levels of their vessels.
Methodology used to calculate carbon tax savings
This is how we calculated the potential savings in Carbon Tax enabled by emissions measurement capabilities.
Assumptions for one typical commercial ship:
Percentage of time in European waters: 100%
Annual ship fuel consumption: 20,000 tons
Fuel to carbon emission factor: 3.2
Percentage of emissions reductions due to accurate measurement: 10% lower than estimates
EU Carbon permits cost of 1 ton of CO2 as of 20/01/23: €88.6*
Carbon tax ramp-up (share of emissions subject to tax)
2024: 40%
2025: 70%
2026: 100%
Estimated yearly carbon tax savings related to accurate carbon emissions measurement
*source: Live EU Carbon permits cost from https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/carbon
Calculate your own EU TAX SAVINGS using our CALCULATOR
Enter your ship's details, time spent in European waters and fuel to find out how much EU carbon tax you could save thanks to accurate onboard measurement your GHG emissions.