Ship Emission Model: You can support us!
The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) is responsible for determining greenhouse gas emissions of national maritime transport as part of the German government's climate reporting. The complete climate report is compiled by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). As the federal authority responsible for maritime shipping, the BSH supports the UBA in this task.
Emissions are determined using the Emissions Model for Marine Activities - EMMA.
The modelling is based on data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which is provided to the BSH by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The AIS data contains high-resolution information on ship movements as well as static and technical ship data, such as ship length. In addition, further technical information such as engine type and fuel type is obtained from an external ship database from S&P Global. The model combines all information to calculate the fuel and energy consumption of the ships. Finally, emission factors are used to determine the greenhouse gas emissions of a ship travelling between two ports.
Importance of MRV data for model validation
Since 2018, shipping companies whose ships > 5000 GT operate in the European Economic Area have been obliged to record and report data on fuel consumption, emissions, distance and duration of voyages as part of the EU-MRV-Regulation 2015/757 (Monitoring, Reporting & Verification - MRV). Since 2025, this obligation also applies to ships > 400 GT.
Although the aggregated MRV data is publicly available, it is only of limited use for the validation and further development of the emissions model.
The BSH is therefore asking for the support of shipping companies with ships under German and foreign flags as well as ships on international voyages in order to further optimise the model and increase the accuracy of modelled emissions in maritime transport.
Detailed MRV data on a voyage basis in the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions are particularly valuable. These data enable a direct comparison between recorded and modelled values and thus contribute to improving the modelling of emissions.
If you would like to support us or have any further questions:
Kristina Deichnik
Sustainable Shipping
kristina.deichnik@bsh.de
Tel. +49 403190-7614
or
Madina Dolle
Sustainable Shipping
madinalucia.dolle@bsh.de
Tel. +49 403190-7681