Ship operator 'emitted more CO2 in 2023 than a city'

The world's largest cruise line company is responsible for producing more carbon dioxide in Europe than the city of Glasgow, a report has found.

- Karen McVeigh

Analysis by the Transport and Environment (T&E) campaign group, provided to the Guardian, found Carnival to be the most climate-polluting cruise company sailing in Europe in 2023.

The data covered all Europe-bound cruise ships last year, including 53 that belonged to Carnival. The second most climate-polluting cruise company in Europe was MSC, followed by Norwegian Cruise Line, the group found.

Carbon emissions for Carnival's Europe-bound ships totalled 2.55m tonnes last year. The latest emissions figures for the city of Glasgow, from 2021, with a population of 620,700, were 2.43m tonnes, according to the city council. MSC emitted 1.4m tonnes and Norwegian 0.84m tonnes of CO2. Analysts from T&E used official data on carbon emissions supplied by vessels sailing in the European Economic Area, as required by EU law.