Loopholes in EU shipping proposals risk undermining green shipping projects

35 progressive European maritime businesses call on EU policy-makers to close loopholes in their draft climate laws for shipping or risk undermining the industry’s clean transition.

In a joint industry-NGO letter published by Transport & Environment today, the companies demand EU legislators lower the gross tonnage threshold to 400 GT and include offshore and service vessels in the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), FuelEU Maritime and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) proposals.

Closing these loopholes would help ensure that investments made in green technologies for smaller vessels are protected and can pave the way for the commercialization of bigger projects, provide predictability for long-term investments, and further empower Europe’s green shipping businesses.

The EU is moving forward with regulating global shipping as part of its major climate and energy package aimed at slashing the block’s emissions by 55% by 2030. Namely, the EU is proposing to include the shipping industry in its carbon market (EU ETS) and to set greenhouse gas intensity targets for marine fuels (FuelEU Maritime). The latter also introduces common principles for monitoring, reporting, verification, and accreditation, different from and additional to the existing EU MRV system.

EU ETS is currently being negotiated in ‘trialogues’ by the European Commission, European Parliament, and national governments. The European Parliament is expected to adopt its position on FuelEU Maritime in mid-October before the negotiations can move into trialogues between the three institutions.

The joint letter was published together with an analysis of EU institutions’ shipping ETS positions.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News

To read the full original article, please go to: https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/loopholes-in-eu-shipping-proposals-risk-undermining-green-shipping-projects/

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