Carbon Credits for Shipping and Ports in India: What EU ETS and IMO Rules Actually Require
India's major ports handled a record 915.17 million tonnes of cargo in FY 2025-26, a 7.06% increase on the previous year, with Deendayal Port at 160.11 MT, Paradip at 156.45 MT and JNPA at 102.01 MT. Growth on that scale carries an emissions bill, and from 1 January 2026 part of that bill is settled in euros rather than rupees.
If you operate a shipping line, port terminal or export logistics business calling at European ports, one question keeps arriving: can we simply buy carbon credits to cover this? Credits solve part of the problem and none of the part most finance teams are worried about. Here is how to tell the two apart.
Where carbon credits do not work: EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime
The EU Emissions Trading System has applied to maritime transport since 2024, and the phase-in is now complete. The rules that matter for an Indian operator:
Ships above 5,000 gross tonnage calling at EEA ports are in scope, regardless of flag.
Surrender obligations rose from 40% of verified emissions in 2024 to 70% in 2025 and 100% from 2026.
Voyages between EEA ports and emissions at berth count in full; voyages to or from a non-EEA port count at 50%. A Mundra-Rotterdam leg is half-priced, not exempt.
From 1 January 2026 the scope widened beyond CO2 to include methane and nitrous oxide.
The decisive point for procurement: EU ETS compliance is met only by surrendering EU Allowances. Verra or Gold Standard credits, Indian Carbon Credit Certificates and voluntary offsets cannot be surrendered against a shipping obligation. EUAs traded near EUR 80 per tonne in mid-2026, so the exposure is real and it cannot be closed through the voluntary market. The logic mirrors what exporters already face under CBAM: a border price you reduce by decarbonising, not by offsetting.
FuelEU Maritime works the same way. It sets a well-to-wake greenhouse gas intensity limit against a 91.16 gCO2e/MJ reference: 2% below it from 2025, 6% from 2030, rising to 80% by 2050. Compliance comes from fuel switching, banking a surplus, or pooling balances with other vessels. Offsets play no role, and the penalty for a deficit runs to roughly EUR 2,400 per tonne of VLSFO-equivalent.
At the IMO, adoption of the Net-Zero Framework was adjourned for a year at the October 2025 extraordinary session of the MEPC, on a vote of 57 to 49 with 21 abstentions. Talks resume during 2026, so global fuel-intensity pricing for shipping is delayed, not cancelled.
The CCTS does not cover ports, but your customers are covered
India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme has notified emission intensity targets for nine sectors: aluminium, cement, chlor-alkali, pulp and paper, iron and steel, fertiliser, petrochemicals, petroleum refining and textiles. Roughly 490 entities across seven of those sectors carry compliance obligations from FY 2025-26, and the first trading of Carbon Credit Certificates is expected around mid-2026.
Shipping and port operators are not obligated entities. That is a reprieve, not an exemption from the market. Every bulk and container customer in cement, steel, aluminium and fertiliser is now measuring emission intensity per tonne of product, and marine and inland transport sits squarely in their Scope 3. Expect emission-factor requests, tender clauses and shore-power questions from customers well before any regulator writes to you.
Where credits genuinely earn their place
Once compliance obligations are set aside, credits do real work in four places:
Residual Scope 1 and 2 at the terminal: yard tractors, harbour craft, reefer power and buildings that cannot be electrified this cycle.
Voluntary net-zero commitments. Adani Ports stated at COP28 in December 2023 that it was targeting carbon-neutral port operations by 2025 and net zero by 2040. Targets of that shape close with high-quality credits, not with capex alone.
Green corridor and low-carbon service offerings sold to cargo owners who want a documented, retired tonne attached to their freight.
Blue carbon on port land. Mangrove and tidal wetland restoration under Verra's VM0033 methodology suits coastal estates, and blue carbon credits have generally traded between USD 5 and 35 per tonne.
Whichever route you take, screen the credit as you would any other procurement line: additionality, permanence, buffer pools and registry status. Our guide on evaluating high-integrity carbon credits sets out the checks that matter.
Check the abatement cost before you buy the tonne
For most Indian port operators, capex still beats credits per tonne avoided. The Harit Sagar Green Port Guidelines require major ports to cut carbon emissions per tonne of cargo by 30% by 2030 and 70% by 2047, alongside more than 60% renewable electricity by 2030 and electrification of over 50% of port equipment. The Green Tug Transition Programme, launched in 2024, targets 50 green tugs by 2030, with Deendayal, JNPA, Visakhapatnam and V.O. Chidambaranar already placing orders for electric tugs. In October 2025 the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recognised Deendayal, V.O. Chidambaranar and Paradip as green hydrogen hubs under the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
Solar-plus-storage on port land, electrified cranes and shore power usually deliver a lower cost per tonne than buying credits every year for the same emissions. Credits belong on what is left after that work, and on the gap while it is being built. Our carbon credit services cover sourcing, due diligence and retirement.
Csquare helps Indian shipping, port and logistics companies size EU exposure, separate compliance obligations from voluntary claims, and source verified credits that survive audit. Talk to our team.
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