C 140/68
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
21.4.2023
4.5.
The EESC notes a lack of ambition in the planned investments aimed at tackling the challenges in ocean governance.
The fight against sources of pollution, mitigation interventions, and management of activities at sea in all sectors need appropriate financial efforts, structural action and civil society engagement.
The EESC welcomes the efforts aiming to reduce GHG emissions and to incentivise best-performers and innovation (25).
This can both support the ambition to decarbonise the maritime transport sector and to establish an Ocean Fund to support maritime challenges.
The EESC also calls for the Carbon Adjustment Mechanism to be expanded to cover the environmental and social aspects. 4.6.
The outermost regions for their geographical characteristics can play a fundamental role to capitalize all the opportunities in the area of oceans, seas and marine resources and which must be prioritised, as they have great potential to boost economies, create high-quality jobs and ensure people’s well-being (26).
For all these reasons the EESC believes that the specific role that ORs can play in the implementation of Ocean Governance should be enhanced, particularly in: a) the ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ mission; b) in the collection and monitoring of fishing data; c) in the fight against illegal and indiscriminate fishing and in supporting sustainable fishing; d) and in the exchange of knowledge on maritime spatial planning (27). 4.7.
Ocean literacy has contributed to communicating the marine challenges, and can contribute to promoting solutions.
Plastics have received considerable attention in the media and from politicians, but are just one of the several challenges for seas and oceans.
The links between marine challenges and both land use and consumer behaviour are often neglected.
The EESC calls for more comprehensive and transparent communication on the oceans, also linking legislation and interventions both at sea and on land.
This will hopefully pave the way for the transformation of industrial production, and the creation of new technologies and jobs that are more focused on environmental sustainability. 4.8.
The recent war in Ukraine has changed the political scenario and attracted attention to unexpected emergencies (energy supply, inflation).
Unexpected challenges (such as the security of the Nord Stream pipelines and dumped munitions in the Black Sea, as well as the geopolitical strategic importance of the Arctic) require additional efforts to adopt appropriate joint interventions.
Despite the fact that war has also impacted on the number of migrants on the Western Balkan route, the pressure remains high at crossings on the Mediterranean routes, putting strain on the reception capacities of some EU countries and exposing people to the risk of incidents.
The EESC calls on the EU to strengthen efforts to fund initiatives to support safety at sea, in a scenario that is expected to exacerbate due to climate and economic pressures.
Brussels, 24 January 2023.
The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Christa SCHWENG
(25)
(26) (27)
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Union, Decision (EU) 2015/1814 concerning the establishment and operation of a market stability reserve for the Union greenhouse gas emission trading scheme and Regulation (EU) 2015/757’ (COM(2021) 551 final — 2021/0211 (COD)) ‘Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision (EU) 2015/1814 as regards the amount of allowances to be placed in the market stability reserve for the Union greenhouse gas emission trading scheme until 2030’ (COM(2021) 571 final — 2021/0202 (COD)) (OJ C 152, 6.4.2022, p. 175); Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — Making ETS and CBAM work for EU cities and regions (OJ C 301, 5.8.2022, p. 116); European Parliament Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System, adopted on 22.6.2022.
Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘The benefits of the outermost regions for the EU’ (exploratory opinion) (OJ C 194, 12.5.2022, p. 44).
COM(2022) 198 final.