The CO2 emissions of container ships in Europe have risen sharply, a data evaluation from Denmark shows. Accordingly, the Huthi attacks in the Red Sea caused the increase as the ships drive detours.
Container ships that had in the EU caused almost 53 million tons of CO2 in 2024 – and thus significantly more than before. This emerges from EU data that the Danish analysis company has evaluated. This value corresponds approximately to the entire CO2 emissions of Greece.
Compared to the previous year, emissions rose by 45 percent. According to the analysis, emissions had fallen year after year between the start of data collection 2018 and 2023. Now they rose.
The basis of the database for CO2 emissions is the MRV Sea Transport Ordinance of the EU, which came into force in 2015. The ordinance has been committed to monitoring CO2 emissions since 2018. At the beginning of this year, stricter requirements have become effective. In statistics, trips of all larger ships are recorded with an EU cover.
“Increase in crisis in the Red Sea”
Sea intelligence assumes that the Huthi militia has contributed to the increase: Because the militia attacks merchant ships, the ships drive longer detours-which harms the climate. “This increase is clearly due to the crisis in the Red Sea,” says the analysis.
The company assumes that the detours driven led to an emissions of an additional 18 million tons of CO2 in container shipping. With an increase in trade, the development cannot be explained alone. At the request of the dpa news agency, the responsible German authority, the German emission trade office in Berlin, announced that it could not determine whether the detours of the ships led to the increase in emissions.
Container shipping broken down due to attacks
The Huthi, which is supported by Iran, attack in the Red Sea and in the neighboring Gulf of Aden merchant ships with alleged reference to Israel. As a result, container shipping in the Red Sea has largely broken in. Instead, many of the ships drive the wide detour around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.
Huthi’s attacks on ships began in November 2023, more than a month after the beginning of the Gaza War. There are different information on how many ships have been attacked. The UN Authority International Maritime Organization (IMO) spoke of around 50 attacks in May 2024. International media now give far higher numbers.
Minimum tax on greenhouse gases from 2028
In the future there will be a minimum tax on greenhouse gases from ships. The 176 member states of the IMO agreed on this in April. Observers spoke of the practically first global tax on greenhouse gas emissions ever. The new rules should come into force at the earliest in 2028.
According to this, a minimum tax of $ 100 per tonne is to be due to emit the ships. The levy should be collected if the responsible countries have not made sufficient contributions to the IMO’s net zero fund and their ships do not adhere to a certain CO2 limit value.
The background: emissions from international shipping have increased over the past ten years. According to the UN, they now correspond to around three percent of the global total total. Because the ships have grown, promote more freight per trip and consume immense amounts of fuel.
