FuelEU Maritime and the EU ETS: two regulations, one invoice

From 2026 an ocean freight invoice can carry two environmental surcharges, and from July, on United Kingdom routes, three. The first question a shipper asks is usually "isn't this double taxation".

It is not. But it is worth understanding why not, because what can be disputed depends on it.

The EU ETS taxes quantity

The Emissions Trading System works simply: a ship emits a tonne of carbon dioxide, the carrier must hold an allowance for that tonne. Allowances are bought on the market and the price moves.

The carrier can simply pay. This is not a ban on emitting — it is its price.

From 2026 the system applies at the full, hundred percent scope, and it covers not just carbon dioxide but also methane and nitrous oxide.

FuelEU regulates intensity

FuelEU Maritime works from the other end. It does not set how much may be emitted. It sets how greenhouse gas intensive the energy used on board may be — and it counts that not from the tank but from the well, including the production and supply of the fuel.

The difference is practical: paying and sailing on is not an option. Every ship has an annual target and a verified compliance balance. A deficit can be closed in four ways — bank a surplus into the following year, borrow from future years, join a pool with surplus ships, or use cleaner fuel.

The fifth option is the penalty: €2,400 per tonne of VLSFO equivalent. It was deliberately set so that it would be the most expensive of them all.

The targets tighten

FuelEU is not static. The required intensity reduction grows: 6% from 2030, 14.5% from 2035, 31% from 2040.

That means a surcharge that is small today will grow on a schedule that can be anticipated in advance.

What is the same in both

The geographic scope. Both the ETS and FuelEU apply to 50% of a voyage's emissions when one port is in the EEA and the other is not, and to 100% when both ports are in the EEA or when the ship is at berth in an EEA port.

Even a single call at an EEA port in a year creates a reporting obligation and a possible deficit for that part of the voyage.

This is the only rule that is set in law and does not depend on the carrier — which is why it is the only one that can be checked independently.

The third layer works differently

From 1 July 2026 the UK Emissions Trading Scheme is added, applying to ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and above. But its scope is not a copy of the EU rule: it covers domestic UK voyages (100%), Great Britain–Northern Ireland voyages (50%) and emissions while at berth in UK ports.

It does not cover an international voyage as a voyage. In practice that means that on a Klaipėda–Felixstowe voyage a UK surcharge calculated on the whole voyage is a question for the carrier — not a calculation that is automatically correct by EU logic.

What this means for the invoice

Two lines are not double taxation. But two lines merged into one mean you will no longer be able to check the scope rule for either of them.