Attention required as UK ETS expands to include maritime, warns Norton Rose Fulbright

With the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to include the maritime sector from 1 July 2026, Philip Roche (pictured), Global Co-Head of Shipping at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, comments as follows:

“The extension of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to maritime will feel familiar to those already dealing with the EU regime, but it is a separate system with important differences that operators cannot afford to overlook.

“In particular, there is very limited time following a UK port call to register a METS account and submit an approved monitoring plan, so businesses will need to move quickly to ensure they are compliant from the outset.

“It is also important to recognise that the UK and EU schemes are not interchangeable. UK Allowances are distinct from EU Allowances and cannot be used across regimes, with UKAs currently trading at a discount of around 20 percent compared to EUAs. For operators trading across both UK and EU routes, this creates additional administrative and commercial complexity, requiring careful tracking of emissions and separate compliance processes under each system.”