EP ADOPTS AMENDMENTS ON FUEL EU MARITIME
On 19 October, the European Parliament adopted in plenary session its position on the FuelEU Maritime proposal. MEPs agreed to set stricter standard for GHG emission reduction form ships and obligation to connect to onshore power supply.
The Parliament retained all the amendments that have been adopted by the TRAN committee on 3 October. MEPs 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.
MEPs also set a target of 2% of renewable fuels usage and mandated containerships and passenger ships to use on-shore power supply while at berth at main EU ports as of 2030, in line with the AFIR proposal mandating ports to deploy OPS in TEN-T ports. To ensure compliance, MEPs agreed the introduction of penalties. Revenues generated from these should go to the Ocean Fund and contribute to decarbonising the maritime sector, energy efficiency and zero-emission propulsion technologies.
CLECAT welcomes the adoption of the proposal as it is a good step towards the decarbonisation of the shipping industry. However, CLECAT regrets that the Parliament rejected amendments to lower the scope of the ships covered by the Regulation to 400 GT, as it is the case for the EP position on the EU ETS file. Extending the scope of FuelEU Maritime would have created clear incentives for the decarbonisation of all kinds of ships and ramp-up the uptake of sustainable maritime fuels.
The Parliament will now enter into negotiations with the Council, which adopted its position in June 2022.
Source: European Parliament