European shipowners welcome the Fit for 55 climate package but fear lack of consistency among proposals may undermine increased climate ambition
ECSA welcomes the increased climate ambition of the ‘Fit for 55’ climate package, recognising that the climate crisis is one of the greatest humanitarian, economic and environmental challenges our societies are facing. However, European shipowners notice a lack of consistency among some of the proposals of the package which may undermine its environmental objectives and therefore urge for more consistency, according to ECSA's release.
ECSA advocates for a dedicated fund to be set up under the EU ETS to stabilise the carbon price, which is especially important for the many small and medium sized shipowners. Importantly, generated revenues should support the sector’s energy transition. ECSA also welcomes the recognition of the role of the commercial operator in the proposal for the inclusion of shipping into the EU ETS. It´s important for the European shipowners that the commercial operator should bear the costs of the ETS.
ECSA supports a phase-in period under which an increasing percentage of the emissions of the sector is subject to the ETS. However, it is important that sufficient time is provided for the gradual inclusion of the sector’s emissions in order to create investment signals and to identify potential errors in the system design.
European shipowners welcome the objective of the FuelEU Maritime initiative to foster the market uptake of cleaner fuels that are currently not commercially available. However, the proposal does not seem to be consistent either with other proposals of the ‘Fit for 55’ climate package or with the overall increased climate ambition.
European shipowners also point out that a financial penalty on ships when the infrastructure for Onshore Power Supply (OPS) is not available in a port, penalises the wrong entity. “At the very least, ships must be exempt from the OPS requirement, when the port infrastructure is not available or not compatible with ships’ equipment” concluded Martin Dorsman.
On the Energy Tax Directive, removing the current tax exemption for fuel is not a consistent way forward. ECSA will work closely with the MEPs and the Member States so that the Directive exempts all sources of energy delivered to ships from taxation as the international nature of shipping creates difficulties to enforce a tax on any energy source.
ECSA will analyse thoroughly the proposals of the ‘Fit for 55’ climate package and is looking forward to a close dialogue with EU policymakers to ensure that climate ambitions are met and that the competitiveness of European shipping is safeguarded.