Greek researcher wins 2023 Young Researcher of the Year Award for exposing the risk of higher emissions if shipping operators switch to hubs outside EU Emissions Trading System zone
Ms Sotiria Lagouvardou, a recent PhD graduate of the Technical University of Denmark and now a Maritime Transport Specialist at the World Bank, receives the prestigious award from the International Transport Forum’s (ITF) Secretary-General Young Tae Kim during the ITF’s 2023 Summit on “Transport Enabling Sustainable Economies” in Leipzig, Germany on 25 May 2023.
Her research reveals that shipping hubs outside the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) become attractive at relatively low carbon prices. The study highlights that, without appropriately designed policies, hub switches could result in increased carbon emissions (or “carbon leakage”) and lost revenue for the EU ETS. In addition, such switches could threaten the economic activity and development of transhipment hubs close to hubs outside the scheme.
Ms Lagouvardou holds a PhD (Market-based Measures for Sustainable Shipping) and a Master of Science (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering) from the National Technical University of Athens. In her doctoral analysis on the impact of the maritime sector’s inclusion in the EU ETS, she reveals that the preference for an alternative non-EU ETS port would become attractive for carbon prices well below 25 EUR per metric ton of CO2. The research focuses on case studies of the Piraeus–Izmir and Algeciras–Tanger Med port scenarios.
The EU ETS is a cornerstone of the EU’s policy to combat climate change. The scheme is the world’s first, most extensive and longest-running international system for trading emission allowances. The EU ETS covers around 40% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and will cover maritime transport emissions from 2024. The highest carbon price to date was EUR 100.34 per metric ton of CO2 in February 2023. The average annual price of carbon…
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