The Parliament has listened to reason and in a vote on CO2-regulation of heavy-duty vehicles decided to reject the Carbon Correction Factor . The CCF would have accelerated the use of much in-demand green fuels in land transport. A sector that can and should be directly electrified or powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Green fuels should be prioritised for hard-to-abate sectors such as shipping.

The shipping sector needs enormous amounts of green fuels to reach its target of climate neutral shipping in or by 2050.

Hence, Danish Shipping expresses satisfaction with the outcome of yesterday’s European Parliament vote, in which a majority rejected the CCF. This factor, if implemented, would have hastened the adoption of green fuels in the trucking industry on land. And thus, left less fuels for hard-to-abate sectors such as shipping. Increasing the CO2-targets for heavy-duty vehicles and excluding the CCF is a strong signal for upcoming negotiations.

“The abandonment of any notion of a carbon correction factor (CCF) is obviously good news for the green transition of European shipping. To achieve climate-neutral global shipping by 2050, as agreed upon by all 175 nations in the IMO, substantial quantities of green fuels are required. Given the scarcity of clean alternative fuels, these should be prioritised for hard to abate sectors, which cannot be directly electrified,” said Nina Porst, Director of Climate, Environment, and Safety at Danish Shipping.

The abandonment of any notion of a carbon correction factor (CCF) is obviously good news for the green transition of European shipping

Nina Porst, Director of Climate, Environment, and Safety at Danish Shipping

However, the broadened definition of climate neutral fuels raises concern by allowing trucks running on synthetic fuels and even the most unsustainable biofuels, such as palm oil and soy.

“I urge for the EU Environment Ministers and the Commission to maintain their opposition and fix this loophole in the upcoming trialogue negotiations and stand firm on the definition of climate neutral fuels”, said Nina Porst.

On Tuesday, Parliament adopted its negotiating position with 63 percent of members in favour and 22 percent against. Negotiations are expected to start next week and should be concluded early 2024.

Facts:

The members of the European Parliament want strong CO2 emissions reduction targets for medium and heavy trucks and buses. The targets would be 45% for the period 2030-2034, 65% for 2035-2039 and 90% as of 2040.