MSC refutes damning claims on its emissions from Transport & Environment’s report

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) voiced its disapproval of the recent findings from a report issued by the European green group Transport & Environment (T&E) which claims the container carrier was the top 7th carbon emitter in the EU.

According to the group’s report, MSC overtook Ryanair and two power stations in Germany and Poland, having emitted 10.72 million tons of CO2 in 2019.

T&E said it based its estimates on the EU shipping MRV (2019), EU ETS emissions (2019), and Alphaliner containership database (2019=.

The full top-ten polluter list from the report can be seen below: 

However, MSC said the data interpretation by the green group in relation to the company’s carbon emissions reported under the EU MRV scheme was ‘incorrect and misleading’.

The company pointed out that an analysis focusing on shipping emissions in the EU should only take into account emissions which actually occurred in the geographical area of the EU, if it is going to be compared to other sources limited to the same area.

“A complete analysis of the raw data recorded in the EU MRV shows that only 40-45% of the emissions reported by MSC, a global carrier, apply to the geographical area of the EU,” the company said in a statement.

“In addition, a correct analysis would also show that MSC has achieved 2.5% YOY (year-over-year) reduction in absolute emissions under the EU MRV scheme in a single year.

“Also, the raw data in this report reflects MSC’s leadership position (volume) in Europe and should be put into context with the amount of cargo carried. The ratio of CO2 emissions per ton of cargo MSC moves is among the lowest in the industry.”

The report was revealed ahead of the European Parliament’s vote on including shipping in the EU carbon market.