The European Union reaches an agreement to restrict emissions of pollutants from maritime transport

The European Green Deal continues its progress towards decarbonization, now focusing on maritime transport with the new agreement called “FuelEU Maritime”. The goal of this agreement is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, and it will gradually impose reductions in ship emissions, starting at 2% from 2025 and reaching 80% by 2050.

The regulation will apply to vessels over 5,000 gross tonnage, which are responsible for 90% of CO2 emissions. It also includes energy used on board or between EU ports, as well as 50% of energy used on journeys whose departure or arrival port is outside the EU or in ultra-peripheral regions of the EU. The regulation will not only cover CO2 emissions but also methane and nitrous oxide emissions throughout the fuel lifecycle. Additionally, an additional zero-emissions requirement for passenger and container ships during berthing will be introduced, which will require the use of shore power sources or alternative zero-emission technologies in ports.

The regulation will be reviewed before 2028 to decide whether to extend emission reduction requirements to smaller ships or increase the quota of energy used by ships from non-EU countries.