In 2025, maritime transport reported 87.4 million tonnes of CO2 in the European Union subject to the price of and had to surrender allowances for 60.8 million by deadline of the end of September 2026. These are the numbers of the latest report on the European carbon market, published yesterday, that the system works and that the companies comply with the rules.

Emissions from shipping fell last year by around -4% compared to 2024. The Commission attributes the decline especially in the greater use of sustainable fuels, whereas in the EU ETS, the European Emissions Trading System, emissions, have zero emission factor: in 2025 they have covered 1.7% of the consumption of the companies involved, compared to 0.6% of the previous year.

Emissions that pay carbon are less than those monitored. Companies active in the ETS reported 144.5 million tons of CO2 to the monitoring system, Reporting and Verification (MRV), which records emissions from ships that call at European ports, including the entire extra-EEA journey. However, the ETS only charges part of it: all emissions of journeys between ports in the European Economic Area, but 50% of those of voyages between an EEA port and a non-EEA port. From the total monitored, 50.4 million tons must therefore be removed (the other half of journeys outside the EEA), 2.3 million fuels sustainable zero-emission and 4.4 million covered by derogations for islands, public service obligations and outermost regions. 87.4 million tons of CO2 remain. The companies do not however, they return all the quotas immediately: the introduction is gradual, with 40% of emissions for 2024, 70% for 2025 and 100% from 2026. For 2025, the requirement, after deductions (including those for "ice class" ships), is 60.8 million allowances; another 26,720,603 are cancelled due to closing the gap between verified emissions and surrendered allowances.

On the front of compliance - the report specifies - with the first maturity (September 2025, for 2024 issues) companies have returned shares for more than 99% of what is owed. The companies that sent the emissions report to the MRV system are 3,427, for a total of 15,660 ships, a count of which also includes companies and ships covered only by the MRV, such as and small cargo vessels. The report does not indicate the outcome of the second deadline.

One figure, present in the report, weighs more than the others on the ongoing debate on the use of ETS revenues: in 2025, the Member States have declared around €107 million of expenditure on maritime transport, less than 1% of the 13.5 billion in expenditure declared for climate and energy purposes. The figure is partial, because Italy and Cyprus, which together have collected €2.7 billion in revenues in 2025, they had not yet report, and covers all ETS revenues, only those generated by the seafarer.

Another hot topic is the impact of the maritime ETS on the activity of EU ports. There are many points out the risk that the law, instead of reducing the emissions, relocation of transhipment traffic and other activities to non-EU ports. The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) speaks of reorganized airports, less direct connectivity with Asia, pressure on investment in capacity and cargo that return to the road. Yesterday's report did not provides data on these phenomena.

The Commission's official monitoring, adopted in March 2025 ( of 19 March 2025), covers only the first nine months of 2024 and does not find leak tests from the system: neither displacement of the transhipment from the EU ports to neighbouring non-EU ports, nor artificial ports of call for circumvent the system, nor systematic return of goods to the in the two case studies examined (Spain-Italy and Bulgaria), nor use of ships just under 5,000 gross tonnage for escape the system, nor ship-to-ship transfers. I changes observed in the Mediterranean are attributed mainly to to the Red Sea crisis. The Commission itself, however, called on to prudence: partial data, a 2024 in which only 40% was paid and too turbulent a context to isolate the effect of the ETS. That However, the document contained elements that fueled fears ports: the ports of Tanger Med and East Port Said, excluded from the definition of "stopover" because they exceed the threshold of 65% of transhipments, account for about 70% of the transhipment of non-EU Mediterranean ports; new capacity projects Containers between 2025 and 2035 are worth 25 million TEUs in ports EU and 34 million in non-EU neighbours, including Damietta (3.3 million million) and Nador West Med (3.4 million from 2027). Another signal concerns the United Kingdom: on the US-EU routes, the share of British stopover journeys has risen since 30% in 2023 to 34% in 2024, although the analysis of the routes announced for 2025 did not show a clear trend.

On 17 July, the Commission presented the revision of the ETS Directive, accompanied by a proposal that amends the MRV and FuelEU Maritime Regulations ( of 17 July 2026). According to the report, the goals are to reduce the risk of circumvention, extend certain derogations, equalise the conditions with smaller vessels (between 400 and 5,000 GRT), supporting sustainable fuels and zero-emission propulsion, simplify obligations and avoid double payment when The global measure on the decarbonization of the shipping of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The report published yesterday by the Commission, however, does not contains an analysis of circumvention and no new data on trafficking port offices of 2025: there are no figures on transshipments, stopovers or routes. The theme appears in only one passage of the part on transport maritime policy. There, the Commission recalls that the Directive provides for a monitoring and review clause, designed in particular to identify and address elusive behaviour from the outset, and presents the revision as the tool to make the system more effective by reducing the risk of circumvention practices. To this end, proposes to extend certain derogations, to include vessels between 400 and 5,000 GRT to ensure a level playing field, to introduce New support for sustainable fuels and zero-propulsion issuance, simplify obligations and avoid double payments with the future IMO measure.

In essence, the latest report does not say that tax avoidance there is or that there is not: it refers to the specific monitoring of March 2025 and the ongoing review. Based on the biennial cadence provided for by the directive, the next monitoring is expected in 2027.