CLECAT WELCOMES ADOPTION OF TRAN REPORTS ON AFIR AND FUEL EU MARITIME
On 3 October, the European Parliament’s TRAN Committee adopted its report on the proposals for the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) and FuelEU Maritime. CLECAT welcomes the adoption of the report by TRAN MEPs as an important step toward the deployment of much-needed charging and alternative refuelling infrastructure, as well as concrete emissions reduction from the maritime sector.
On the AFIR proposal, MEPs agreed to set minimum mandatory national targets for the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure and to ask EU countries to present their plan by 2024 on how to achieve it. Electric charging infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles would be deployed every 60 km along the core TEN-T network by 2026, with increasing requirements on the required power output by 2030. MEPs also moved forward target requirements on charging stations in Safe and Secure Truck Parking Areas (SSTPAs) from 2031 to 2028 and strengthened hydrogen refuelling infrastructure targets (every 100 km as opposed to 150 km in the Commission proposal).
On FuelEU Maritime, the TRAN committee strengthened the requirements GHG emission reductions from ships, starting form 2% by 2025, 20% as of 2035 and 80% as of 2050 (Commission proposed a 13% and 75% reduction). This would apply for ships above a gross tonnage of 5000, to all energy used on board in or between EU ports, and to 50% of energy used on voyages where the departure or arrival port is outside of the EU.
CLECAT regrets that the scope of ships covered by the proposed Regulation has not be extended to cover ships above 400 GT, as it is the case for the EP position on the EU ETS file. Earlier in September, CLECAT together with 5 other organisations sent a letter to key MEPs calling on lowering the threshold to create clear incentives for the decarbonisation of all kinds of ships and ramp-up the uptake of sustainable maritime fuels.
Both files will be voted at the next EP plenary session on 17-20 October, before entering into interinstitutional negotiations with the Council which adopted its positions on these files early June.
Source: European Parliament