The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) announced on 22 July that CO₂ captured onboard during Project CAPTURED has been formally recognised for compliance under the European Union Emissions Trading System.

The verified volume of captured CO₂ can be deducted from the vessel emissions for which EU Allowances must be surrendered. This gives onboard carbon capture a direct financial benefit: qualifying deductions reduce the number of EUAs that shipping companies need to purchase and surrender, thereby lowering their EU carbon-compliance costs.

An EUA generally represents one tonne of CO₂-equivalent emissions. The actual savings will therefore depend on the amount of CO₂ eligible for deduction, the applicable EU ETS phase-in requirement and prevailing allowance prices.

The recognition is subject to strict conditions. To qualify, the captured CO₂ must be permanently chemically bound in an eligible product. Temporary capture and onboard storage alone would not entitle a shipping company to deduct the emissions.

Project CAPTURED demonstrated that this requirement could be met through carbon mineralisation. The process converts captured CO₂ into stable materials that can be used in industrial applications, including construction products.

Completed in June 2025, the project demonstrated an end-to-end maritime carbon value chain. CO₂ was captured and liquefied onboard a vessel, transferred ship-to-ship, transported overland and subsequently mineralised.

GCMD said the pilot maintained CO₂ purity above 99.95% by volume at every custody-transfer point. Its life-cycle assessment found that the project achieved a net greenhouse gas reduction of 7.9%, based on an onboard gross capture rate of 10.7%. An optimised value chain using the same capture rate could potentially deliver net GHG savings of 17.8%.

The project has also secured in-principle support at the International Maritime Organization for recognising carbon mineralisation as a form of permanent CO₂ storage. The proposal was submitted to the Marine Environment Protection Committee at MEPC 84 using data and operational experience from the pilot.

GCMD coordinated Project CAPTURED with 11 maritime and industrial partners, including SMDERI-QET, Evergreen Marine, Zhoushan Dejin Shipping and Greenore/Baorong.

The EU ETS recognition is the project’s most immediate commercial milestone. It establishes a pathway through which verified onboard carbon capture can reduce both a vessel’s emissions liability and the operator’s expenditure on EUAs, giving the technology a measurable compliance value in European shipping.