Due to Brexit, EU MRV no longer applies to ships visiting UK ports. As such, UK is no longer part of the EU MRV regime but it has retained and amended the EU legislation with the establishment of an identical scheme, the UK MRV scheme, to monitor, report and verify emissions data from ships calling at UK ports.
SQE MARINE consulting firm has issued circular to provide guidance to ship operators in order to revise the existing verified EU MRV plans and include additional guidance for UK MRV legislation and reporting requirements.
In particular, the UK has released MIN 669 (M+F) Reporting Emissions Data into the UK MRV Regime, to cover the collection and reporting requirements for CO2 emissions. UK Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) Regime includes the obligation for ship operators and verifiers to collect and report CO2 emissions data.
Key legal requirements under the UK MRV regime
Subject to the UK MRV regime are the ships over 5,000 gross tn, transporting cargo and/or passengers for commercial purposes during:
- Voyages between two UK ports
- Voyages between a UK and non-EEA port
- Emissions generated at a UK port for the above voyages
Voyages between a port in the UK and a port in one of the UK overseas territories or Crown dependencies – such as the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Jersey – need to be monitored and reported under the UK MRV regime. However, ports in these overseas territories do not count as UK ports under the UK MRV regime. So, voyages between two Crown dependencies or overseas territories – such as between Jersey and Guernsey – should not be included. Likewise, a journey from a port in an overseas territory or Crown dependency to a non-UK port should not be included.
Same exceptions apply to vessels under the UK MRV regime (e.g. for warships), that apply under the EU MRV regime. Ship operators must have in place an assessed monitoring plan before data collection begins. The assessment of the monitoring plan and the verification of the annual emission report for each ship needs to be done by an accredited verifier. The verifier must be accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). Each ship must have its emissions monitored and its data collected for each reporting period, ready for verification. Ship operators should begin collecting emissions data for their ships under the UK MRV regime from 1 January 2022.
