SEA-LNG welcomes EU framework on maritime GHG emissions

LNG bunkering association SEA-LNG said on November 30 it welcomed the European Commission's "goal-based and technology neutral" regulatory framework on emissions from the maritime sector.

SEA-LNG noted that the framework for decarbonising the shipping industry, FuelEU Maritime, recognised that emissions needed to be calculated on a well-to-wake basis. 

"We recognise that the proposed basket of measures relating to the maritime sector is supportive in principle of LNG and the decarbonisation pathway it offers through bio-LNG and, ultimately, renewable synthetic LNG, which is derived from the same hydrogen base as other alternative fuels," SEA-LNG said.

The association said it supported the objectives of the EU's Fit for 55 regulatory package, aimed at aligning environmental rules across all economic sectors with the bloc's target of cutting emissions by 55% by 2030. But it said the different approaches to renewable and low-carbon fuels in FuelEU Maritime could make the methodology unworkable.

What is more, the absence of a guarantee of origin system in RED III could undermine market liquidity and hinder the expansion of renewable gases such as bio-methane and synthetic methane and their liquefied equivalent, SEA-LNG said. It added that a focus on tank-to-wake emissions only in the revised EU emissions trading scheme could disadvantage some low-carbon fuel.