DNV: Making emissions data verification manageable at scale

Classification society DNV recently published a Maritime Impact article featuring its customers sharing how a proactive, digital approach to emissions data verification is helping them manage reporting more efficiently and at scale to ensure compliance under FuelEU Maritime: 

The FuelEU Maritime regulation has been in force since 1 January 2025, and the due date for verification of the first year’s emissions data at the end of April is imminent.

FuelEU Maritime adds reporting complexity

FuelEU Maritime (FEUM) has brought the number of emissions reporting obligations for ships operating in European waters to four, along with IMO DCS as well as EU MRV and ETS. The UK’s own MRV and ETS reports and any pooling arrangements under FEUM add further complexity. “Customers are finding it challenging to meet the verification due date,” says Conrad Golebski, Global Sales Manager, MRV, DCS, and FuelEU Maritime at DNV. “But non-compliance results in costs, which can be quite high for vessels that do not meet the emission targets.”

Data quality issues are widely underestimated

Preparing the document of compliance for the regulatory authorities has been an annual exercise – and a very stressful one, emphasizes Golebski. The annual verification process is often challenging, as the extent of data quality issues tends to be underestimated and only becomes apparent after year-end submissions, leading to a growing number of correction requests during verification for shipowners.

“Rectifying these issues can be a complex and time‑consuming process, involving an intense communication exchange before verification can proceed.”

There are two types of error that compromise data quality, says Golebski. “Human data entry errors must be corrected one by one. Systematic errors will affect the data of the entire fleet, and detecting and correcting them as early as possible will make a big difference towards minimizing the rectification effort.”

Continuous emissions data submission enables early, high quality verification

 “Clients who choose to upload their ships’ emissions data to the OVD Admin continuously throughout the year instead of waiting until January can benefit from our quality checking algorithms and make the necessary corrections as they go,” Golebski points out. “This will make the actual verification step the following spring much more comfortable and avoid missing the submission deadline.”

From DNV’s data warehouse, the data can be distributed to the client-requested services, such as Fleet Status, Emissions Insight, the DCS-, MRV-, and FEUM-specific applications, or Emissions Connect. 

“It is this centralized digital concept that makes our system so convenient,” says Golebski. 

“We maintain and update our infrastructure constantly to account for client needs and improve user-friendliness.

Note: The full DNV article can be found here. 

Photo credit: DNV
Published: 25 May, 2026