T&E consortium urges revised EU regulation on shipping emissions
A group of organisations and companies argues for revisions to the EU’s draft regulation on shipping emissions, claiming these revisions could close loopholes and bring in €20 billion ($19.36 billion) from the shipping sector to EU countries.
PHOTO: View of the Port of Amsterdam. Getty Images
European environmental non-profit Transport & Environment and a coalition of 36 other maritime companies are calling on EU policymakers to bring down the minimum gross tonnage (GT) for vessels covered by the EU’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV), Emissions Trading System (ETS), and the FuelEU Maritime Regulation.
They reason that the minimum size for vessels covered by MRV, ETS and FuelEU Maritime should be brought down from 5,000 GT to 400 GT. Offshore and service vessels should also be covered, they put forward in a joint letter to the EU this week.
The coalition believes in the readiness of “green shipping technology”. It therefore roots for an effective legislation for smaller ships so that “green shipping” is possible at every level.
The group is of the opinion that by deferring the decision to include new vessels in the MRV and ETS, legislators are only hampering investments and hurting the intended goals of the proposed legislation.
It now wants exemptions to smaller ships, ferries and offshore vessels to end as it almost amounts to subsidising fossil fuels, which threatens competition and incentivises companies to invest in vessels running on fossil fuels instead of spending on green vessels.
Smaller vessels exempted from the European Commission’s proposal will emit up to 25.8 million mt of CO2. The group believes decarbonisation of the smaller vessels is necessary and will bring in more benefits than larger vessels. As smaller ships also tend to sail closer to shore, public health in coastal communities could stand to benefit from their inclusion.
The coalition also believes in encouraging European lawmakers to regulate smaller ships as the continent’s shipyards builds mostly smaller ships, while bigger ships tend to be built in East Asia. The EU also harbours several green technology developers, which might lead to an increased adoption of these technologies and benefit continental businesses.
In June this year, the European Parliament voted in favour of an EU ETS reform that includes an extension to cover shipping. Revenues generated through emissions trading will be made available to the shipping industry for investing in low-emission vessels and scale required fuel and bunkering infrastructure in ports.
The proposal approved by the committee would extend the ETS to cover all ship emissions from intra-European voyages by 2024. Half of the emissions from voyages to and from EU countries would be included between 2024-2026, before expanding to 100% from 2027.
The next step for the ETS proposal is trilogue negotiations between the three EU branches (Parliament, Commission, Council) and negotiations between individual EU member states.
By Tuhin Roy
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