Campaign group claims EU will lock in fossil fuels

Blaming ‘misguided EU sustainability targets (which) encourage an uptake of LNG’, the group has published a study that it claims shows that a law proposed by the European Commission gives the green light for LNG well into the 2040s.

The law would require ship operators to reduce the lifecycle carbon footprint of fuels, and targets set by the EU will tighten over time, with the aim of squeezing out the most polluting oil-powered ships and drive more uptake of sustainable fuels.

However, the regulation allows LNG to be considered a transitional fuel, which means it can be treated as a sustainable one.

“The shipping industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters and is heavily reliant on fossil fuels,” said sustainable shipping officer delphine Gozillon, at T&E. “The old narrative of gas as a transitional fuel just doesn’t hold. We cannot afford to shift from one fossil fuel to another. It will not get us to net zero emissions by 2050 and, by putting more methane into the atmosphere, may even fry the planet faster.”

The report says that because LNG is so much cheaper than ‘genuinely clean’ alternatives, it will make up 23% of total energy used in EU shipping by 2030, up from 6% today.

“Europe’s policymakers should introduce dedicated quotas and incentives to boost demand for hydrogen-fuels,” said Gozillon. “Genuinely clean solutions do exist, but currently they are expensive. It we kick start demand now, a green shipping future is possible.”

T&E was created more than 30 years ago to promote its vision for a zero-emission mobility system.

The group says it has shaped some of the EU’s most important environmental laws, such as setting ambitious CO2 standards for cars and trucks.