16.5.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 130/137
(16)
Greenhouse gases that are not directly released into the atmosphere should be considered emissions under the EU ETS and allowances should be surrendered for those emissions unless they are stored in a storage site in accordance with Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (11), or they are permanently chemically bound in a product so that they do not enter the atmosphere under normal use and do not enter the atmosphere under any normal activity taking place after the end of the life of the product.
The Commission should be empowered to adopt delegated acts specifying the conditions according to which greenhouse gases are to be considered as permanently chemically bound in a product so that they do not enter the atmosphere under normal use and do not enter the atmosphere under any normal activity after the end of the life of the product, including obtaining a carbon removal certificate, where appropriate, in view of regulatory developments with regard to the certification of carbon removals.
Normal activity after the end of the life of the product should be understood broadly, covering all the activities taking place after the end of the life of the product, including reuse, remanufacturing, recycling and disposal, such as incineration and landfill.
(17)
International maritime transport activity, consisting of voyages between ports under the jurisdiction of two different Member States or between a port under the jurisdiction of a Member State and a port outside the jurisdiction of any Member State, has been the only means of transportation not included in the Union’s past commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Emissions from fuel sold in the Union for voyages that depart in one Member State and arrive in a different Member State or a third country have grown by around 36 % since 1990.
Those emissions represent close to 90 % of all Union navigation emissions, as emissions from fuel sold in the Union for voyages departing from and arriving in the same Member State have been reduced by 26 % since 1990.
In a business-asusual scenario, emissions from international maritime transport activities are projected to grow by around 14 % between 2015 and 2030 and by 34 % between 2015 and 2050.
If the climate change impact of maritime transport activities grows as projected, it would significantly undermine reductions made by other sectors to combat climate change and therefore to achieve the economy-wide net greenhouse gas emission reduction target for 2030, the Union’s climate-neutrality objective by 2050 at the latest, and the aim of achieving negative emissions thereafter, as laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/1119, and the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
(18)
In 2013, the Commission adopted a strategy for progressively integrating maritime transport emissions into the Union’s policy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
As a first step in this approach, the Union established a system to monitor, report and verify emissions from maritime transport in Regulation (EU) 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12), to be followed by the laying down of reduction targets for maritime transport and the application of a market-based measure.
In line with the commitment of the co-legislators expressed in Directive (EU) 2018/410, action by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or the Union should start from 2023, including preparatory work on adoption and implementation of a measure ensuring that the sector duly contributes to the efforts needed to achieve the objectives agreed under the Paris Agreement, and due consideration being given by all stakeholders.
(19)
Pursuant to Directive (EU) 2018/410, the Commission should report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the progress achieved in the IMO towards an ambitious emission reduction objective, and on accompanying measures to ensure that maritime transport duly contributes to the efforts needed to achieve the objectives agreed under the Paris Agreement.
Efforts to limit global maritime emissions through the IMO are under way and should be encouraged, including the rapid implementation of the Initial IMO Strategy on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships, adopted in 2018, which also refers to possible market-based measures to incentivise greenhouse gas emission reductions from international shipping.
However, while recently there has been progress in the IMO, this has so far not been sufficient to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Given the international character of shipping, it is important that the Member States and the Union within their respective competences work with third countries to step up diplomatic efforts to strengthen global measures and make progress on the development of a global market-based measure at IMO level.
(11) Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 (OJ L 140, 5.6.2009, p. 114).
(12) Regulation (EU) 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport, and amending Directive 2009/16/EC (OJ L 123, 19.5.2015, p. 55).