Isle of Wight ferry operator Wightlink has warned that the Government’s decision to extend the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to the UK maritime sector could have damaging and unintended consequences – including increasing pollution rather than reducing it.
The new rules, due to come into force in summer 2026, will cost ferry operators like Wightlink up to £1 million a year, on top of recent National Insurance rises and higher business rates. This financial burden threatens vital investment plans, including Wightlink’s next-generation hybrid ferry, scheduled for order in 2026.
The UK ETS requires entities that exceed a certain emissions threshold to purchase allowances for each tonne of CO2 they emit. While operators are moving to decarbonise, without adequate electrical grid capacity upgrades, there is often no viable alternative, making UK ETS expansion detrimental to the ferry operators’ decarbonisation efforts. A recent report from the British Ports Association found that 70% of UK ports are already at, or near, their ceiling in terms of available power. European ferry operators including P&O and DFDS have been forced to add an EU ETS surcharge to passenger tickets to cover the costs.
Under the proposed charging structure, operators will be incentivised to run smaller ferries – which produce higher emissions overall but are exempt from ETS – instead of larger, more environmentally friendly hybrid or electric vessels, which are heavier due to batteries on board. This contradicts the government’s aims for the scheme: reducing emissions.
Despite repeated calls to re-consider, the government has not granted the Isle of Wight the same exemption as Scottish island services, even though Isle of Wight ferry links are a lifeline for residents. In addition to Scotland’s exemption, Northern Ireland has also been granted a 50% reduction in UK ETS surcharges to align with the EU ETS, raising important questions about consistency and fairness in the scheme.
Wightlink CEO Katy Taylor said:
“We’ve invested over £30 million in sustainable technology, yet we face an impossible challenge: there simply isn’t the grid capacity to make our services greener. Instead of supporting long-term emissions reductions, the current approach penalises operators like us without offering solutions. The ETS may aim to cut emissions, but in practice it risks doing the opposite and it will be Island communities who will pay the price.
“Wightlink remains firmly committed to sustainability and will not take any action that increases emissions but the Government’s current approach makes it more difficult for maritime companies to invest and risks undermining the UK’s green ambitions.”
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Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East, Joe Robertson, who has raised concerns in the House of Commons, said:
“It is highly disappointing that the Isle of Wight has not been granted an exemption from the upcoming UK ETS maritime expansion like Scottish Islands have. Yet again, the Government overlooks the Isle of Wight, and instead places further cost on our ferry travel. Ferries are our Island’s only connection to the mainland and are essential for accessing vital services such as the NHS and higher education. They are the very definition of a lifeline service and it is therefore incomprehensible that they have not been recognised as such, along with Scottish islands.
“This policy, imposed on us by the Government, offers no meaningful incentive for ferries to actually reduce emissions because there is insufficient grid capacity and instead risks imposing a green tax on Island life and our local economy. I have urged the Government to rethink this unfair decision and I will continue to raise it with Ministers”
Labour MP for Isle of Wight West, Richard Quigley, said:
“The UK ETS is a hugely important mechanism to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions across the economy. However, while I wholly support the Government’s ambitions for cleaner transport, I am concerned that the Isle of Wight has not been granted an exemption at this stage.
“Without adequate investment in local grid capacity, this policy makes the low-carbon transition for ferry operators incredibly difficult. I would welcome further consideration of how these measures can best reflect the unique circumstances of our island community, and I look forward to working collaboratively with ministerial colleagues to ensure we reach a balanced and practical solution for everyone.”
Squiggly says:”“The UK ETS is a hugely important mechanism to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions across the economy.”
No it is not! It is just more virtue signalling crap from an incompetent and corrupt socialist government.
Robertson says:”This policy, imposed on us by the Government” criticising the socialists for doubling down on a crazy policy started by the clown Tory Prince, Boris Piffle Johnson, without even understanding that Net Zero is a totally insane policy forcing the British people to pay the most expensive price for electricity in the world just so that idiot politicians like these two can claim to be caring, green, Net Zero heroes.
Vote Labour/Vote Conservative makes NO difference now.
All parties report to their same Davos bosses
Quigly spouting another load of rubbish again. He said he would sort the ferries in 100days when he was elected. His government have already imposed massive NI contributions and hikes in business rates for Wightlink costing millions. Labour out asap.
Couldn’t stop a bus at a bus stop.
Politicians talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
Richard Quiggley is a member of the current Government.
He should be able to get a meeting with any Government Minister at short notice.
What is he doing about this? Why has he not got Ed Milliband in Fishbourne pointing out the lack of Grid capacity, the lack of Green energy connections here.
When will Kier Mather report him to the Parlimentary standards authority as he won’t stop bugging him.
Joe on the otherhand, has nothing to loose. Reform is taking East Wight at the next election so he might as well play that as his trump card – do something Bobby Arthur Sausage never managed – to deliver on a campaign promise
Reform taking east and west wight at next election. Quigley about as much use as a sticky plaster on the hole in Titanic. General election now before it’s too late.
The last thing we need is climate Ed on the
Island
This will kill tourism and raise the price on absolutely everything else we need in our life. Why does Scotland get away with it?
Time for a Bridge or Tunnel
And yet another tax. Who gets paid for the offset of emissions? What a con.
Unfortunately there are very few MP’s who passed geography o-level so as far as they are concerned the Isle of Wight is just another wealthy county in the south of England. It has obvious that they don’t understand what an Island is and assume that the ferries are some kind of luxury yacht that we wealthy Islanders play with. Instead of imposing more financial burden on them they should at least be subsidising them or better still regulating them.
Might as well give them an exemption, the island itself is
full of dirty Diesel and Petrol vehicles.
Also there is no ULEZ in place on the island to keep the
Island clean.
Only a scheme of this stupidity could come from a labour government