EU MRV Regulation: what you need to know

02 November 2016  |  C16033

On 1^st July 2015 Regulation (EU) 2015/757 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport came in force.  The aim of this regulation is to provide reliable information on CO2 emissions from the shipping sector.

NOTICE TO
Ship Owners / Managers / Operators

Regulation (EU) 2015/757 aims to gain a better understanding of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from shipping activities within the European Union (EU), and it could be used to create any future greenhouse gas reduction initiatives.  As a first step, the regulation is intended to measure CO2 emissions, which will then allow the EU to define reduction targets and finally provide with the means to achieve those targets, as appropriate.

Monitoring, Reporting, Verification (MRV) is a standardized method to produce an accurate CO2 emissions portfolio, through the measurement of CO2 emissions.  The key principles of the scheme are to generate robust results using a lean approach considering parameters which are already monitored during normal operations within the industry.

Irrespective of a ship’s flag, the regulation applies to ships greater than 5,000 GT undertaking one or more commercial voyages into, out of or between EU ports.  The regulation however, does not apply to warships, naval auxiliaries, fishcatching or fishprocessing ships, wooden ships of a primitive build, ships not propelled by mechanical means and government ships used for noncommercial purposes.

The data included will be aggregated annually and reported for all voyages conducted into, out of and between EU Ports.  It requires per-voyage monitoring of CO2 emissions as well as annual disclosure of aggregated data on a ship basis.

There are four methods for determining the actual fuel consumption for each voyage. A combination of these methodologies may be applied on each ship if this lead in an improvement in the accuracy of monitoring.  These methods are:

• Bunker Fuel Delivery Note (BDN) and periodic stock takes of fuel tanks
• Bunker fuel tank monitoring on board
• Flow meters for applicable combustion processes
• Direct CO2 emissions measurements

Timeframe

Each Company must produce a monitoring plan by 31 August 2017.  The monitoring plan must be reviewed and approved before the monitoring period (i.e. before 01^st January 2018).  Following the end of the reporting period, each company must submit their emissions report for verification as laid down in Articles 8 to 12, Annexes I and II of EU MRV Regulation and its delegated acts.

Act now

DBS is encouraging companies to prepare ahead for the implementation of the EU MRV Regulation.  Companies can start considering the methodology to be followed to fulfil the forthcoming monitoring and reporting obligations of their fleet using existing and new procedures in order to have a robust system for collecting and reporting greenhouse gas emissions.