The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has launched THETIS-MRV, a monitoring, reporting and verification system aimed at reducing carbon emissions from ships calling at European ports.
THETIS-MRV went live 7 August and has been designed so that ship operators can monitor and report carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption – as mandated by the EU’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) Regulation beginning 1 January 2018.
Companies subject to EU legislation will be able to use THETIS-MRV to draft monitoring plans and produce emissions reports. EMSA has created a set of tutorial videos to aid companies, verifiers and flag states in accessing the THETIS-MRV system.
Within the THETIS-MRV software, companies are designated with a responsibility for reporting CO2 emissions and are required to enter into commercial agreements with independent, external verifiers who ensure compliance with the MRV legislation. Lists of accredited, external verifiers can be found on national accreditation body websites.
According to the EMSA video, the MRV system is ready for use, upon successful registration and activation. Stressing the benefits of advanced preparation, the group said companies can draft monitoring plans before accessing THETIS-MRV, and that the content of the monitoring plan, as proposed in Annex 1 of implementing regulation 2016 1927, is in digital format.
Compliance with MRV legislation is achieved through accurate recording and reporting of ships’ voyages. Verifiers check company emissions reports, and cross-check these against AIS ship-tracking data. When the data has been verified, a document of compliance is issued. Ship owners must then notify the EU Commission of the verified reports. At this point, the document of compliance is fully valid and can be sent to its corresponding ship.
THETIS-MRV has been designed to allow companies to enter ship voyage and fuel consumption data either directly or by uploading data files from a company’s own monitoring database. However, the EMSA tutorial stresses that externally-aggregated data discrepancies can be difficult to reconcile, are time consuming and costly. Using externally-aggregated data may also subject company files to review in the case of a national accreditation body auditing a verifier.
The MRV Regulation applies to the large ships – over 5,000 gt – that make up about 55% of ship traffic in EU ports and account for an estimated 90% of shipping-related greenhouse gas emissions. Ship operators will be required to submit annual reports to the European Commission beginning in 2019, a year after the MRV Regulation takes effect, with the first documented compliance produced in April 2019.
Maritime transport emits around 1Bn tonnes of CO2 annually and is responsible for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Shipping emissions are predicted to increase between 50% and 250% by 2050 – depending on future economic and energy developments.
The THETIS–MRV web-based application can be accessed here.
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Source: Marine Electronics & Communications
