McQuilling Partners has become the latest shipbroker to enter the emissions market, with demand for carbon credits from the shipping industry set to increase in the coming years.
The US-based company said it will offer its clients access to carbon offsets via a partnership agreement with Vertis Environmental Finance, a Hungarian emissions trading house established in 1998.
“We are thrilled to partner with Vertis Environmental Finance to provide our clients ... with a seamless process of securing carbon neutrality on their marine transportation requirements,” McQuilling chief executive John Schmidt said in a statement.
The partnership will see the two companies offer shipowners and charterers voluntary and compliance carbon credits amid the industry-wide trend of decarbonisation.
“The first wave of commercial zero-emission shipping and the use of carbon offsetting is increasingly catching on in segments of the maritime and fuel industries as companies look to enhance their environmental positioning,” Vertis chief executive Marc Falguera said.
“We are excited to address this huge challenge and help the industry achieve its environmental ambitions and obligations.”
The European Union is drafting regulations that will likely require vessel operators to buy emission allowances for their voyages to or from European ports, which could take effect as early as 2022.
The International Maritime Organization has also been discussing a global carbon market for shipping, which has won more support from maritime players in recent months.
McQuilling commercial director Stefanos Kazantzis described the partnership as “a powerful combination of environmental and shipping advisory” for market participants on meeting the potential regulatory requirements.
Moreover, a growing number of energy traders and producers are acquiring voluntary carbon credits to offset emissions from their shipments, allowing themselves to claim their supply chains as “carbon-neutral” to demonstrate efforts in combating climate change.
“Vertis and McQuilling [will] offer standard or customised carbon offset solutions that enable interested parties, whether it be charterers or shipowners, to ensure carbon neutrality on specific voyage routings,” Kazantzis said.
Envisaging more appetite for environmental trading from the shipping industry, major brokerages including BRS, Clarksons and Affinity (Shipping) launched carbon desks in late 2020.
Their businesses have so far been centred around voluntary carbon offsets as shipowners are not yet obliged to pay for their emissions.
Norway’s Torvald Klaveness has called on its peers and clients to only purchase credits from carbon-reduction projects within the maritime sector.
The shipping group believes regular offsets blur the real cost of cutting emissions and that such “insetting” can prompt more investments in low-carbon technologies for the industry.
