The European shipowners gathered in ECSA call on the EU to raise its CO2 ambitions in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, they argue that bunker firms ought to become subject to demands, just as shipping will be included in the quota system from next year.
Amid the European Union’s final negotiations about including shipping in the CO2 system Cap & Trade, shipowners propose a marked tightening of climate ambitions.
In a declaration, the European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) and the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) urge the EU to implement climate regulation that comply with the Paris Agreement.
At the same time, ECSA and T&E call for bunker firms to be included in the carbon accounting as well, so it’s no longer just carriers that are subject to carbon reduction demands.
If adopted in its current form, the proposal might do more harm than good to shipping’s climate ambition
ECSA and Transport & Environment
”The Commission’s proposed regulation for FuelEU Maritime is crucial for promoting the uptake of sustainable and scalable fuels in shipping. However, as it stands now, the Commission proposal falls short of ambition and fails to address the responsibilities of other stakeholders such as the fuel suppliers,” write the two organizations.
”If adopted in its current form, the proposal might do more harm than good to shipping’s climate ambition.”
FuelEU Maritime is the EU Commission proposal aiming to ensure that an increasing amount of green fuel becomes part of the general fuel consumption in shipping every year. The initiative is expected to be passed during the fall.
ECSA and T&E propose four concrete changes:
The two organizations don’t elaborate further on how demands for the bunker firms are supposed to be drawn up or work. But in a comment to WPO, ECSA Secretary General Sotiris Raptis has this to say on the role of the bunker firms:
”They would have to comply with the same carbon intensity improvement targets currently applicable to shipping companies alone (5-year targets). The type of the fuel would be left to them to decide but they would have to make clear in advance the fuels they plan to make available at each port (fuel supply plans). Thus, shipping companies would know beforehand what kind of cleaner fuels they could purchase in different European ports.”
