A new Greek startup, inspired by the beached cargo ship that briefly blocked the Suez Canal, is floating the idea of generating carbon offsets from the incident and other similar events that feature disruptions to global trade or transport, including the movement of fossil fuels.

In a press release published Thursday, Patras-based Protaprilia said the stalled shipment of goods such as those on the Ever Given, which was stuck in the Suez for six days in late March, results in avoided greenhouse gas emissions, for example through fewer future trips by any of the dozens of massive CO2-spewing container ships caught up in the maritime melee.

As well, a number of coal and gas cargoes were delayed last week, which Protaprilia estimates will lead to 14 million tonnes of CO2e being cut from power generation emissions, or at least postponed.

The firm said it is also working on an offset methodology with several airlines including Saudia and Russia’s Aeroflot that would create carbon credits from all the flights that were grounded over the past 12 months due to the pandemic.

Once completed, Protaprilia plans to submit its aviation- and shipping-related protocols to the respective UN bodies that oversee those two industries, with the aim of getting them approved under ICAO’s CORSIA offset system and whatever mechanism the IMO comes up with after years of steadfast dedication to climate ambition and intense planning of what it says will at least match the world-leading stringency of the scheme faced by airlines.

Protaprilia has also secured a partnership with German automaker Volkswagen, which had a fleet of vehicles on the Ever Given and other ships stuck in last week’s Middle Eastern traffic jam.

The pair will sell offsets to account for the CO2 that will be saved from these cars and trucks being delivered late to buyers.

Serial polluter Volkswagen made its own headlines this week by announcing that it would change the name of its American operations to ‘Voltswagen’ to showcase its commitment to EVs.

Protaprilia said its inspiration for these new offset initiatives also came from financial industry-led efforts to expand and clean up the global voluntary carbon market, for example by protecting it from the money laundering that’s become more commonplace in the investment banking sector, and by helping customers realise their environmental objectives by selling them decade-old Kyoto Protocol credits at bargain-basement prices.

The above was a satirical April Fool’s Day story

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