According to a new study by the Copenhagen-based analytics company Sea-Intelligence, carbon emissions from container ships operating in the European Union rose significantly in 2024. Last year, the ships listed in the EU emissions database emitted 52.8 million tons of CO2, representing a 46% increase from the previous year.”

The ongoing crisis in the Red Sea and the re-routing of vessels south of Africa have led to a staggering 45% increase in CO2 emissions from container shipping in the European Union in 2024. While the overall shipping sector saw a 10% rise in CO2 emissions, the impact on container shipping has been disproportionately severe.

Forced detours

The increase is primarily due to attacks on commercial vessels by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, which have forced ships to take long detours, harming the climate as a result.

Sea-Intelligence estimates that the longer routes resulted in an additional 18 million tons of CO2 emissions from container shipping, adding that the rise cannot be explained solely by increased trade, it said. The company also noted that container ship emissions are now at their highest level since the EU began collecting this data in 2018.