Late the night of 22–23 March, negotiators for the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional political agreement on the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels in maritime transport (‘FuelEU Maritime’) (see EUROPE 13133/8).
“This agreement sets out by far the world’s most ambitious path to maritime decarbonisation. No other global power has drafted such a comprehensive framework to tackle maritime emissions. This is truly groundbreaking”, commented rapporteur Jörgen Warborn (EPP, Swedish).
The provisional interinstitutional agreement has thus set targets to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2% starting in 2025 for ships whose gross tonnage is over 5,000 tonnes, compared to 2020 levels. The reduction targets will rise to 6% in 2030, 14.5% in 2035, 31% in 2040, 62% in 2045, and 80% in 2050.
Moreover, the interinstitutional negotiations resulted in a 2% target for the use of renewable fuels of non-biological origin starting in 2034 if the use of such fuels is less than 1% in 2030.
A long-debated subject, the text also provides that major EU ports make sufficient electricity capacity available, by 2030, for passenger ships and container ships, which will be obliged to connect to a clean power supply when docked. This requirement will be extended to all EU ports in 2035. However, this provision will only apply to ships docked for more than two hours, when there is an emergency, or when the energy used on board the ship is already clean energy.
There are exemptions for the outermost regions, small islands, and areas that are economically dependent on their connectivity. Similarly, the GHG emission reduction factors will be different for ships navigating in areas with ice. This provision has been pushed by several Member States, including Finland, since discussions on the subject began.
A provision has also been included to ensure that the European Commission will review the rules by 2028 and to decide whether or not it is necessary to extend the requirements to smaller ships or increase the share of energy used by ships from non-EU countries.
Environmentalists’ regrets
While the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the EPP Group were pleased with the provisional agreement, the Greens/EFA Group feels that the text lacks ambition. This was already the case last October, when the European Parliament adopted its position in preparation for interinstitutional negotiations (see EUROPE 13047/10).
“We regret that we have not succeeded in requiring carbon neutrality by 2050. The agreement retained the target of [achieving] an 80% reduction by that date. The maritime sector is responsible for 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Without intervention and at the sector’s current rate of growth, these emissions could increase 250% by 2050 and reach 17% of the total”, stated Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, French), who chairs the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport.
Some, like the NGO T&E, believe that the European Commission will need to address the loopholes in the text in 2028 so as to not “[let] biofuels and low-carbon fuels in the backdoor”. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)