Post by AV Carbon

LNG was the safe decarbonisation bet for a lot of owners. On 1 January 2026, that bet quietly got more expensive. Until this year, the EU ETS only put a price on your CO2. The methane that slips unburned through dual-fuel engines was a known weakness of LNG, but it carried no direct carbon cost. That is over. From 1 January 2026, the EU ETS covers methane and nitrous oxide too, measured in CO2 equivalent. Methane is around 28 times more potent than CO2, so even a modest slip rate now turns into allowances you actually have to surrender. And it does not stop at the ETS. FuelEU Maritime already measures your fuel well-to-wake, so that same methane is also pushing up your GHG intensity and eating into your compliance balance. The slip you could overlook a year ago now hits you twice. Once in allowances. Once in FuelEU, as a penalty or as a surplus you could have sold. This is not the end of LNG. For some vessels it still holds up. But the distance between "LNG looks green" and "LNG is actually compliant and cost efficient" just widened, and it now turns on details that used to feel academic: your engine's slip profile, your bunkering, your certification. The owners who model this before the 2026 figures land are the ones who turn compliance into a surplus instead of a surprise. One question worth putting to your technical team this week: do you know your methane slip, and what it now costs you in CO2 equivalent? If the answer is a shrug, that is the exposure. I help small and mid-size owners put a number on exactly this, vessel by vessel. #FuelEUMaritime #EUETS #MaritimeDecarbonization #LNG #ShippingCompliance #AVCarbon