World's most ambitious pathway for maritime decarbonisation

23.03.2023 8:13

World's most ambitious pathway for maritime decarbonisation

Aerial front view Container cargo ship

The EPP Group applauds the agreement to boost the uptake of sustainable maritime fuels, which negotiators of the European Parliament, the EU Member States and the European Commission reached this morning.

“With this agreement, we are laying out the world's by far most ambitious pathway for maritime decarbonisation. Never before has any global power drafted such a comprehensive framework to tackle maritime emissions. This is truly ground-breaking”, said Jörgen Warborn MEP, who is the European Parliament’s lead negotiator of the FuelEU Maritime law.

The deal foresees cuts of the greenhouse gas intensity in ship fuels by 2% as of 2025, 6% as of 2030, 14.5% as of 2035, 31% as of 2040, 62% as of 2045 and 80% as of 2050. The cuts would apply to ships above a gross tonnage of 5000 to all energy used on board between EU ports, and to 50% of energy used on journeys where the departure or arrival port is outside of the EU.

“Climate change is a global problem and shipping is a global industry, but when progress is too slow in the international arena, the EU steps up and moves ahead. This Regulation will force others to move too. Europe will do its fair share, but we will not let European citizens and companies foot the bill for the entire world's climate efforts. We are ambitious, but realistic”, added Warborn.

In addition to gradually stricter greenhouse gas limits, the agreement also foresees the obligation on ships to connect to on-shore power, as a means to combat air pollution, when moored in a port covered by the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation.

The Commission will be tasked with monitoring the Regulation’s impact on the maritime sector’s competitiveness and to identify measures to limit the regulatory burden.

"It's key to me that we get the Commission working with the ‘one in, one out’ approach to reduce cost pressure on the sector and shield consumers from rising prices”, underlined Warborn.

Note to editors

The EPP Group is the largest political group in the European Parliament with 176 Members from all EU Member States

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