As negotiations on FuelEU Maritime and EU Emission Trading System (ETS) enter the last phase, the Global Maritime Forum (GMF) is calling on EU policymakers to raise the climate ambition in these policy proposals.
More specifically, Poul Skjaerbaek, Head of Service Innovation, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy A/S, Alan Lewis, Technical Director, Smart Freight Centre, Rasmus Bach Nielsen, Global Head of Fuel Decarbonisation, Trafigura, and Kasper Søgaard, Managing Director, Head of Institutional Strategy and Development, Global Maritime Forum, called the EU to explicitly incentivize the production and use of zero emission fuels made from net-zero energy sources which include green and blue hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, and sustainable biofuels.
Incentivizing the production and use of zero emission fuels this decade is critical if our ambition of having a global maritime industry run solely on net-zero emission fuels by 2050 is to be achieved
the authors said, adding that “this 2050 ambition is shared by more than 240 shipping stakeholders that have signed the Getting to Zero Coalition’s Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization as well as many countries and other organizations. But having a bold 2050 ambition is not enough. We need clear, short-term targets and the concrete actions that will take us there.”
In the short term, GMF notes that sustainable biofuels will be an important part of the transition, but to achieve the long-term targets, there is a need for scalable zero emission fuels derived from hydrogen as they have the highest potential for long-term, cost-effective scale-up.
To achieve the 2050 ambition, the UN High-level Climate Champions have set a target of reaching five percent scalable zero emission fuels by 2030 as the breakthrough target for shipping decarbonization.
FuelEU Maritime can create incentives for the uptake of scalable zero emissions fuels, by inter alia including a sub-target and a multiplier for these renewable fuels as proposed by the EU Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism
stated GMF.
What is more, increasing the carbon intensity reduction targets in FuelEU Maritime as proposed by the TRAN Committee will stimulate demand for renewable fuels more generally, “but an increase in targets must be complemented by corresponding supportive mechanisms to allow the maritime value chain to make the transition,” said the authors.
Furthermore, the highlight that when reinvesting ETS revenue, the EU Commission and Member States should explore the use of Contracts for Difference, an effective subsidy scheme that has already been proven in the offshore wind sector.
If FuelEU Maritime and ETS for shipping are designed with the right incentivizing elements, Fit for 55 will catalyze the decarbonization of European and international shipping and support European companies in their efforts to be leaders in maritime zero emission technology and fuel production
