SEAaT Sulphur Emissions Offsetting Pilot Project
SEAaT Sulphur Emissions Offsetting Pilot Project
SEAaT co-ordinated a Sulphur Emissions Offsetting Pilot Project in 2005 and 2006 to explore the application of emissions trading for reducing sulphur emissions from shipping activities.
By examining the simplest form of emissions trading - offsetting - SEAaT sought to evaluate the most appropriate emissions trading scheme for shipping for the benefit of the wider industry.
The pilot involved 58 vessels from seven international shipping companies including Teekay Shipping,Stena Line,BP,P&O Ferries and OOCL in the then-proposed North Sea SECA.
British Maritime Technology Limited were engaged by SEAaT to conduct project management and independent reporting on the Pilot.
The ships involved in the project produced fuel consumption and position data, from which sulphur emissions were calculated. Ships were tagged as either “credit generators” or “credit purchasers”
The results of the project were that:
- Without the sale of excess credits outside the pilot fleet, an average sulphur content of 1.2% was achieved, below the 1.5% target.
- It was demonstrated that compliance was significantly cheaper than if all vessels were required to meet the standard.
The conclusions from the project are therefore that:
- Emissions offsetting is an effective and cost-efficient means of reducing sulphur emissions at the local level
- Offsetting increases the options for shipping companies in investing in abatement technologies appropriate to their vessels
- Encourages beyond-compliance behaviours
- Improved visibility of environmental performance of ships, and reduced risk of non-compliance
- There is compatibility for a ship-ship trading system with other proposed ship-land credit sales proposals
Using the resulting database of actual emissions data, a wide range of scenarios has also been created and analysed, to provide guidance for the future establishment of emissions trading schemes.