The French Presidency of the Council of the EU (FPEU) invited Member States, on 8 April, to take stock of the approach for further work on the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels in maritime transport (‘FuelEU Maritime’) (see EUROPE 12930/12).
In concrete terms, the FPEU asked Member States to address the three “key policy issues” of scope, level of carbon intensity targets and inclusion of fuels.
In terms of scope, the Member States are thus responsible for taking stock of their position. In particular, some argue for a lowering of the 5,000 tonne threshold, which is necessary for a ship to fall within the scope of the text.
In addition, several delegations have also raised, in past discussions, the possibility of extending the geographical scope to 100% in terms of the threshold for renewable and low-carbon energy used for extra-EU journeys. This threshold is already 100% for journeys between two ports under the jurisdiction of Member States, but the Commission’s original proposal was for a 50% threshold for journeys to or from a third country.
On the issue of carbon intensity targets, some delegations showed interest in the possibility of raising the values of the first deadlines. Others, on the other hand, called for caution, stressing the lack of visibility on the level of production of alternative fuels and related technologies.
As a reminder, the Commission’s proposal foresees a reduction in the carbon intensity of energy use by 2% by 2025, 13% in 2030, 26% in 2035, 49% in 2040, before reaching 75% five years after that.
Finally, with regard to the consideration of certain fuels, several Member States have indicated that they do not want biofuels from food and feed crops to be considered as fossil fuels.
See the document (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/190 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)