Members of the European Parliament (MEP) have called for the world’s first mandated targets for the use of renewable fuels in the maritime sector to be written into law: With the adoption of the new set of policy targets and penalties, the EU parliament is ready to begin negotiations with member states to finalise the FuelEU Maritime regulation.

2% of Shipping's Fuels Green by 2030, 80% less GHG by 2050

On 19th October 2022, with a more than two-thirds majority, MEPs set the target for the use of renewable fuels by maritime vessels at 2% of total fuel used by 2030. In addition, MEPs are seeking to mandate the use of onshore power supplies for both container and passenger ships at berth in ports.

By a similar voting margin, The EU Parliament also increased some of the European Commission’s proposed mandates for cuts to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vessels. Ships with over 5,000 Gross Tonnage (GT) trading in the EU are expected to reduce emissions by 2% by 2025, 20% by 2035 and 80% by 2050, as compared with 2020 levels.

Previous EU targets were 13% and 75% for 2035 and 2050, respectively. The mandates would apply to 100% of energy used on vessels in or transiting between two EU ports and 50% of energy used on vessel voyages with departure or arrival ports outside the EU.

The parliament voted in favour of introducing penalties against operators who breach the targets, with revenues from the penalties to be funnelled into a fund to support maritime decarbonisation, energy efficiency and the

With the adoption of the new set of policy targets and penalties, the EU parliament is ready to begin negotiations with member states to finalise the Fuel EU Maritime regulations. which is part of the Fit for 55 package of legislative proposals aimed at ensuring the success of the European Green Deal.

Some Reactions to the New Policy Targets

Reacting on the new policy targets set by the EU Parliament, the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) called for mandates on fuel suppliers to bring sufficient quantities of renewable fuels to market and earmarking of revenues from the FuelEU Maritime scheme to help in bridging what is widely expected to be a sizeable price gap between fossil fuels and renewable fuels.

ECSA also noted the EU Parliament had taken "a more pragmatic approach" to mandating the use of onshore power by vessels by removing penalties against ships in ports where shore power infrastructure is not available for use.

While the ECSA wants more support for the maritime industry, NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) called for the EU to raise again the bar with a number of changes to the proposed legislative terms, including setting a required 6% sub-quota for e-fuels from 2030 and near-term incentives for first movers, wind and solar, and removal of a proposed exemption for companies with three vessels or less that make up 60% of shipping companies, according to T&E.

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