UCL-Energy leads project to estimate the emissions of the global shipping industry

The UCL Energy Institute is leading a project to estimate the emissions of the global shipping industry, with a consortium of 10 international partners (from China, UK, US, Finland, Hong-Kong, Japan, Netherlands, Greece) and working for the UN agency that oversees shipping, the International Maritime Organisation.

The study will examine the emissions using both satellite data derived estimates of shipping activity and statistics on the sale of bunker fuel. The aim of the study is to produce an update of previous work which established emissions for 2007 both to review the data and models used, deploy new sources of data (particularly from satellites), and to establish the annual emissions from 2007 to 2012, a key recent period for the sector due to changes in the global economy and the shipping markets.

The study will also update the sector's forecast trajectories of emissions out to 2050. The consortium's work will be presented at IMO meetings in 2014 and be placed in the public domain towards the end of 2014.