UK Emissions Trading Scheme: Ferries
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2026 to Question 118924, what estimate his Department has made of (a) the proportion of UK Emissions Trading Scheme costs in the maritime sector expected to be passed through to consumers and (b) how that estimate varies by subsector, including ferries and passenger services; and what international evidence underpins those assumptions.
Answered by Chris McDonald
The Impact Assessment finds UK ETS compliance costs are modest relative to operators’ overall costs and does not identify significant consumer price impacts. This is expected to be consistent across maritime subsectors.
For ferries and passenger services, the Government has not undertaken route level modelling for the UK ETS domestic maritime expansion, as operators’ commercial decisions, vessel utilisation and fare structures vary widely.
The EU ETS, which includes some passenger ferries in scope, shows fare changes have generally been in the low single digit range. Early evidence from the EU scheme suggests short‑sea shipping routes and ferry fares increased by 3-11% under comparable carbon pricing.
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