EU Parliament votes for green fuel percentage by 2030

The 2% mandate was welcomed by Transport & Environment (T&E). Delphine Gozillon, sustainable shipping officer at T&E, said: “This is the beginning of the end for fossil fuels in Europe’s shipping industry. The green shipping fuel mandate will kickstart the production of hydrogen-based fuels by providing investment security for fuel producers. But 2% will not be enough if we are to stick to 1.5 degrees. The EU must build on this and go bolder. There is a clear will to clean up the shipping industry. This is just the start.”

T&E has called on the EU to raise this mandate – otherwise known as a sub-quota – to at least 6% in 2035. 50 industry organisations and NGOs from all over Europe, including Unilever, Siemens and Alstom have backed this. The group also called for a removal of the exemption for companies with three ships or less, which would exempt 60% of shipping companies. This was rejected by the Parliament.

The Parliament also failed to announce a greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target of 100% in 2050 which would effectively phase-out all greenhouse gas emitting fuels. However, the Parliament did reduce incentives for fossil gas by introducing stricter GHG targets. This will shorten the lifetime of LNG as a compliance option.

European shipowners welcome the vote, but said that fostering the production and uptake of low- and zero-carbon fuels is a key step towards decarbonisation of the sector. “To meet this goal, we need not only to boost demand for clean fuels from shipping, but at the same time to recognise the responsibilities of fuel suppliers to make clean fuels available in sufficient quantities. It is also key to earmark the revenues for bringing the price gap with clean fuels, for R&D and innovation as well as for port infrastructure, upskilling and reskilling. European shipowners therefore welcome the earmarking of the FuelEU revenues to the maritime sector under the EU ETS Ocean Fund,” said ECSA in a statement.

“Clean fuels currently sit on the most expensive side of the spectrum, and therefore action is needed to bridge the price gap. In order to meet the targets of the FuelEU, the earmarking of the ETS and FuelEU revenues back to the sector becomes even more essential. This, together with ensuring fuel suppliers are responsible for making clean fuels available, is critical to ensure that shipping can deliver on its decarbonisation objectives,” said ECSA’s Secretary General Sotiris Raptis.

ECSA supports the new monitoring requirements to ensure the availability of clean fuels in the market. The Commission will have to continuously monitor the quantity of low- and zero-carbon fuels made available to shipping companies in the EU. If the supply of those fuels fails to meet the demand from shipping companies, ECSA says the Commission should propose measures to ensure that maritime fuel suppliers in the EU make available adequate volumes of alternative fuels to shipping companies calling at EU ports.

The Parliament deleted penalties for ships when shore power infrastructure is not available in port.

Hydrogen Europe had called for 6% rather than 2% and says the decision is not aligned with what was agreed in the September plenary vote for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II). Hydrogen Europe doesn’t thus understand the lack of coherence between the supply obligations and the weak off-taker quotas.