Clean Maritime Fuels Platform has called on the European Commission to earmark national Emissions Trading System revenues from shipping to support the deployment of renewable and low-carbon fuels under the upcoming European Industrial Maritime Strategy.

The platform said the energy transition of the shipping sector will require around €40bn in annual investments between 2031 and 2050, citing the Draghi report on the “Future of European Competitiveness.” It noted that European shipping carries 76% of the EU’s external trade and plays a strategic role in ensuring the security of supply of energy, food and goods.

According to the statement, the deployment of renewable and low-carbon fuel projects faces significant uncertainties that hinder public and private investment. These include a complex regulatory framework, technological risks and high upfront capital requirements that disadvantage first movers.

“Producers require long-term contracts at prices sufficient to remunerate their investment, while users can only commit to shorter-term contracts for smaller fuel volumes,” the statement said, adding that these factors create high production costs and financial risks not addressed by current European Commission tools such as the EU Hydrogen Bank and Innovation Fund.

The platform urged the European Commission to include renewable and low-carbon fuels and technologies for shipping in the scope of the upcoming European Industrial Maritime Strategy, and to de-risk investments using EU and national ETS revenues.

“National ETS revenues should be invested in scaling up clean maritime fuels and clean maritime technologies, while ensuring their accessibility across all shipping sectors,” the statement said. “Earmarking national ETS revenues from shipping in the maritime sector should be introduced, as long as the shipping sector continues to pay for its emissions under the EU ETS.”

The group also called for facilitating the role of ports as energy hubs for the energy transition and enhancing coherence between EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime requirements in order to reduce reporting burdens by 25%, or 35% for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The European Commission has recently emphasised that member states should reinvest ETS revenues in industrial decarbonisation, while the Sustainable Transport Investment Plan has highlighted the needs and challenges of the maritime sector in relation to ETS revenues.

Shipping has been recognised in the EU's Clean Industrial Deal as a priority sector to be supported in deploying renewable and low-carbon fuels.

The Clean Maritime Fuels Platform is a bottom‑up industry initiative that brings together European shipowners and fuel‑producer associations to improve cooperation on the production, supply, and uptake of renewable and low‑carbon marine fuels in Europe.