The European Parliament is expected to vote, on Tuesday 15 September, in favour of including maritime transport in the ETS emissions trading scheme by 2022 or 2023 and on a target of a 40% average reduction in annual emissions from ships by 2030.
Jutta Paulus (Greens/EFA, Germany), rapporteur on the MRV (Monitoring, Reporting and Verification) Regulation on CO2 emissions from ships, said, on Wednesday 9 September in a video conference, that she was “confident” regarding the ambitious vote in view of a consensus among the main political groups.
The plenary will vote on a proposal to amend the EU MRV Regulation to bring it partly into line with the global system for collecting data on ships’ fuel oil consumption which was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2016.
The report, adopted in July by the Parliament's Committee on Environment (ENVI) by a large majority, proposes the introduction of several measures that go far beyond the Commission’s proposal (see EUROPE 12522/17).
This includes the introduction of an ambitious efficiency target of a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of freight and nautical mile. Shipping companies would be required to reduce their carbon intensity linearly by at least 40% on average across all ships under their responsibility by 2030. In order to reward the ‘pioneers’, emissions from all ships in the 2018 and 2019 reference years would be used as a starting point.
“Data from 2018 is available. The meeting with the shadow rapporteurs resulted in an agreement to move forward with the MRV Regulation using these data”, said Ms Paulus.
The Commission's report on 2018 data shows that more than 10,800 ships covered by the Regulation emitted 1,130 million tonnes of CO2, more than Belgium’s average annual emissions.
For her, the most important compromise establishes that commercial operators would be responsible for the way ships are used. “At least 40% by 2030 is an average compared to the average performance by ship category, which will give high-performance ships the pioneering advantage”, Paulus said.
Another compromise supports an amendment by the Greens/EFA, S&D and GUE/NGL groups in favour of inclusion in the ETS by 2022, after an impact assessment by the Commission. It foresees that half of the revenues from auctions will be used to fund the EU’s own resources. The other half would finance the creation of an ocean fund, which the Commission is invited to establish to help the sector be more efficient. Twenty percent of the resources of this fund would be allocated to the protection of marine biodiversity.
The EPP and ECR groups tabled an alternative compromise to postpone inclusion in the ETS until 2023.
“But we have Ursula von der Leyen’s promise to include maritime transport in the ETS as soon as possible during this parliamentary term”, the rapporteur said.
Other provisions provide for methane emissions to be included in the scope of the MRV Regulation. This is important because it is a greenhouse gas whose impact on the climate is comparatively 28 times greater than that of CO2 over a 100-year period, that is 87 times greater over 20 years, the rapporteur pointed out.
Following the vote, negotiations could theoretically be opened with the EU Council (see EUROPE 12357/1), but the date is not yet known. “We have had discussions with the German Presidency, but due to the ‘Coronavirus measures’ in place, the priority is the climate law first, as it would be devastating to go to Glasgow (COP26) next year without this law”, Paulus said.
The German Presidency will speak with the Member States to ascertain their positions. Jutta Paulus hopes that interinstitutional negotiations (trilogues) can begin before the end of the year, but she understands the difficulty of organising these trilogues without a physical meeting. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)