The UK Government has committed to decarbonising the UK’s maritime sector. For both domestic and international shipping, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must decline by 30% on 2008 levels by 2030, dropping to 80% by 2040. Meanwhile, the Government assumes that ~33% of all fuel used by UK shipping will be low-carbon in 2035.
These targets and assumptions are ambitious. However, we are increasingly concerned that they are not backed by policy. This situation is greatly exacerbated by the postponement by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of a decision on whether to adopt its Net Zero Framework.
RTFA is delighted to publish our maritime policy paper setting out a policy and regulatory framework to help meet the targets and assumptions. In it, we recommend that the Government:
- Announces publicly how it will fulfil its MDS pledge to address the UK’s share of international shipping emissions, now that progress at the IMO is both delayed and insufficient;
- Introduces a fuel GHG intensity (GHGi) standard and mandate for the use of marine renewable fuels of non-biological origin in both UK domestic and international shipping, aligning as closely as practicable with European Union (EU) legislation;
- Champions UK production of strategically-important, low-emission marine fuels (including hydrogen-based, power-to-liquid fuels) with appropriate support, for example a contract for difference; and
- Encourages the EU to lower its ETS vessel size inclusion threshold from 5000 to 400 gross tonnage (GT) and legislates for the UK ETS to do the same.
These measures would help to fulfil the MDS pledge as well as providing a strong foundation from which to achieve both the UK’s maritime emissions targets and low-carbon fuel uptake assumptions, on the way to decarbonising the UK maritime sector as a whole.
