Maritime transport CO2 emissions (experimental)

This experimental dataset includes annual, quarterly, and monthly information on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from maritime transport based on ship-tracking information collected via Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders, covering all large vessels (above 300 gross tonnage) around the world, accessed via the United Nations Global Platform, from 2019 onwards. The CO2 emissions are estimated by the OECD, based on a consistent methodology across countries and include emissions from both domestic and international voyages.


The CO2 emissions are classified using the ship-type classification used by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) distinguishing between 19 vessel categories such as bulk carriers, tankers, and cruise ships.


The database provides a measure of CO2 emissions on a territory basis for domestic navigation, which is used for reporting in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) inventories; and also on a residence basis, which is used to estimate the emissions of maritime transport (H50 in the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities, or ISIC) in the SEEA Air Emission Accounts (AEAs).


Seven components of these CO2 emissions measures can be selected from the ‘Vessel emissions ’ filter. In the tables, these are also shown with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G. The aggregate measures of CO2 emissions are calculated as:

• Domestic navigation = A + C


• International navigation (memo item) = D + G


• Air emissions accounts: maritime transport (ISIC H50) = A + B + D + E + F

For residence based measures, the allocation of emissions to countries is based on the residence of the companies that operate the ships.


More information can be found on the dataset webpage