ECSA, EWABA, eFuel Alliance, the Advanced Biofuels Coalition and GoodFuels feel the European Commission’s proposed FuelEU Maritime regulation is crucial in promoting the uptake of clean fuels in shipping. Yet, the organisations also say that as it stands now, the proposal falls short of ambition and might not deliver the EU’s ambitious climate objectives for shipping.
Therefore, ECSA (European Community Shipowners’ Associations), EWABA (European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association), eFuel Alliance, the Advanced Biofuels Coalition and GoodFuels call on the European Parliament and Council to amend the FuelEU Maritime proposal to ensure that shipowners and fuels suppliers together play a key role under the new system. The associations call for the introduction of robust requirements on member states to ensure that fuel suppliers in European ports deliver compliant fuels to ships in sufficient quantities.
In addition, the organisations support the earmarking of revenues generated under the EU ETS and the FuelEU Maritime to facilitate the energy transition of the sector and contribute to bridging the price differential between conventional fuels and sustainable and scalable alternatives, inter alia, through carbon contracts for difference.
Also read: T&E: EU ETS and FuelEU schemes for shipping are full of loopholes
Cooperation between shipping and fuel suppliers
‘The current FuelEU proposal does not address the responsibilities of the fuel suppliers and how cleaner and safe fuels will become available in Europe,’ says Sotiris Raptis, ECSA’s Secretary General. ‘We think that FuelEU Maritime should address both shipowners and fuel suppliers to ensure that low and zero carbon fuels become commercially available as soon as possible. In order to achieve our climate objectives, cooperation between the shipping industry and fuel suppliers is crucial. We strongly welcome the engagement of our fuel supplier partners in this dialogue.’
‘The proposed targets should be raised to create more powerful incentives to invest in technologies that are not based on fossil fuels,’ adds Dr Monika Griefahn, Chairwoman of the Board of the eFuel Alliance.
Also read: Shipping industry headed for EU Emissions Trading System
Marko Janhunen, Chair of Advanced Biofuels Coalition and Public Affairs Director at UPM adds: ‘EU institutions must ensure sufficient ambition in policies targeting to reduce transport emissions. Time to act is now as today’s policy decisions define how companies can move forward with investment decisions. With higher ambition level, industry will have certainty to invest in biorefineries and develop sustainable fuels for the marine sector.’
‘In the Netherlands, stimulated by policy, waste-based and advanced marine biofuels have been playing a crucial role in the fuel mix,’ states Rianne de Vries, Public Affairs Lead at GoodFuels. ‘Already in 2020, 800KT CO₂eq was reduced through usage of marine biofuels. FuelEU targets should not constitute a minimum effort but should stimulate the industry to further scale up. The industry is ready, and after all, reversing climate change is about acting.’
Also read: ECSA pleased to see European Parliament supporting ETS Ocean Fund
