A UK shipping industry lobby has raised what it said are “broad-reaching concerns” over UK government plans to extend the UK’s land-based Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) to the domestic maritime industry and its vessels from July 2026.
The UK Chamber of Shipping warned legislators in an open letter published on its website that the policy risks harming UK competitiveness, increasing costs for island communities and slowing progress towards net zero.
The UK group said the sector “cannot deliver meaningful emissions reduction without the necessary fuels, infrastructure and clear guidance in place”.
“Premature implementation risks higher costs for passengers and freight, with limited environmental gain. However, the government is pressing ahead, despite concerns from several quarters, leaving industry in an untenable position,” shipping’s primary trade association in the UK said.
Among the UK Chamber of Shipping’s suggestions for the draft legislation are protections for the revenues brought in by the carbon market for shipping, further protections for “ferry-dependent and island communities”, alignment with EU ETS rules to prevent “double-charging and carbon leakage” and a phasing-in period to allow operators and ports to implement systems and infrastructure for compliance.
“Without government reinvestment of ETS revenues, the scheme risks raising costs rather than driving emissions reduction,” the UK shipping lobby said.
The UK Chamber of Shipping claimed the sector is also facing a “compressed preparation period” for the impending legislation, which must also be passed by the House of Lords, among other procedural motions, but is currently set to come into force in mid-July 2026.
The regulations were published on 13 January and, upon final approval, will come into force six months later, “requiring operators to finalise emissions-monitoring plans, hire verifiers, upgrade systems and forecast financial impacts on extremely tight timelines, without full guidance or clarity from government,” according to the trade body.
To address these implementation challenges, the UK Chamber of Shipping called on the UK government to publish a full technical guidance for the legislation and revise the implementation timeline.
“The industry stands ready to work with ministers to develop an approach that supports real emissions reduction while protecting essential UK connectivity,” the group said.
In March 2025, the UK government committed the UK shipping sector to reach a net-zero emissions target by 2050, and to hit interim emissions-reduction targets of 30% by 2030 and 80% by 2040. These emissions targets are in line with the upper end of the ambition statements that form IMO’s emissions-reduction targets in the most recent update to its greenhouse gas reduction strategy, agreed in 2023.
At the time, the UK’s plan consisted of a combination of the targets along with promises of further investments in fuels and technologies to decarbonise shipping and an expansion of the UK ETS to shipping.
In December 2024, the UK began a second consultation period on the legislation, after the UK government announced an initial consultation period on the development of its emissions trading scheme in March 2022.
The UK ETS Authority, made up of the UK government, Scottish government, Welsh government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, said it is seeking stakeholder views on proposals to implement the UK ETS in the maritime sector. The ETS scheme already operates across other industry sectors in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
