China asks shipowners to report carbon emissions

The requests for figures on voyages that service local ports affect some tanker and container-ship owners, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified. The move follows the EU’s recent adoption of a carbon levy on vessels, and could help in China’s expansion of its emissions-trading system to cover shipping. It’s unclear how many ports are involved, Bloomberg notes. 

As explained by Bloomberg, ocean-going vessels carry the vast majority of world trade, and any decision by China to force carriers to pay for emissions would be a major shift for the global maritime sector. The second-largest economy is the top crude importer, and its ports are among the biggest in terms of container throughput. In March, Beijing set up its first carbon-emissions management agency for the shipping sector in Shanghai to collect figures from China-flagged ships.

The Ministry of Transport said in response to Bloomberg’s queries that it had issued verbal notices to some ports, and that the requests were in response to the International Maritime Organization’s data-collection requirements.

China’s requests to overseas shipowners follow the introduction this year of a carbon levy by the European Union that requires vessels calling at the bloc’s ports to pay for carbon pollution, regardless of the flags they fly or where their owners are incorporated, Bloomberg concludes.