The European Parliament adopted by 520 votes to 94, with 77 abstentions, amendments to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2015/757 in order to take appropriate account of the global data collection system for ship fuel oil consumption data.

The matter was referred back to the committee responsible for inter-institutional negotiations.

As a reminder, the proposal aims to revise the European system for monitoring, reporting and verification of CO2 emissions from maritime transport (EU MRV Regulation).

The main amendments adopted in plenary concern the following points:

Inclusion of maritime transport in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)

The Regulation shall establish rules for the accurate monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other relevant information concerning ships arriving at, within or departing from ports under the jurisdiction of a Member State.

Members considered that ships with a gross tonnage of 5000 or more should be included in the EU ETS in order to contribute to the achievement of the climate neutrality objective for the EU economy as a whole.

Reduction of emissions

Parliament suggested incorporating the key elements of the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) initial strategy into EU law, while continuing dialogue with IMO member states to reach a global agreement on measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Members therefore requested that shipping companies reduce their average annual CO2 emissions per transport work by at least 40% by 2030. If a company fails to comply with the annual reduction, the Commission may impose a financial penalty.

The baseline for greenhouse gas emission reduction measures shall be determined by using data from the THETIS-MRV system and the IMO's global data collection system.

The Commission shall monitor progress towards the adoption by the IMO of a global market mechanism. If such a mechanism is adopted, the Commission shall present a report examining the overall environmental integrity of the measures decided by the IMO in the light of the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on an economy-wide basis by 2030 and the objective of climate neutrality. This report may be accompanied by a legislative proposal.

Emissions from ships at berth

According to Members, companies shall ensure that, by 2030, no ships under their responsibility emit greenhouse gas emissions when at berth.

Environmental performance labelling of ships

So as to incentivise emission reductions and increase transparency of information, Members proposed that the Commission shall set up a holistic EU labelling system for the environmental performance of ships which shall apply to the ships covered by this Regulation.

Oceans Fund

Parliament called for the establishment of an Ocean Fund for the period 2021-2030, financed by revenues from the auctioning of allowances under the EU ETS to improve the energy efficiency of ships and to support investments to help decarbonise maritime transport, including short sea shipping and ports.

20% of the Fund's revenue shall be used to help protect, restore and better manage marine ecosystems affected by global warming, such as marine protected areas, and to promote a sustainable blue economy, such as marine renewable energy.

Extending the scope to all greenhouse gases

Parliament would like to see the scope extended to all greenhouse gases, not just CO2. By 31 December 2021 at the latest, the Commission shall adopt delegated acts to supplement the Regulation by specifying the methods for determining methane emissions.

By 31 December 2022 at the latest, the Commission shall review the functioning of the Regulation, taking into account the experience gained, as well as other relevant initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport and to fulfil the Union's commitments under the Paris Agreement.

PURPOSE: to amend Regulation (EU) 2015/757 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from the maritime transport sector (EU MRV Regulation) to take into account the new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) global data collection system.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: International maritime shipping remains the only means of transportation not included in the Union's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2015, it emitted 13% of the total Union greenhouse gas emissions from transport.

In its Resolution of February 2014 on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies, Parliament noted that all sectors of the economy would need to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions if the Union is to deliver its fair share of global efforts.

In the future, seaborne trade volumes are likely to grow, which will lead to a significant increase of associated GHG emissions if mitigation measures are not put in place swiftly. According to a study from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), depending on future economic and energy developments, global shipping emissions could grow between 50% and 250% by 2050.

The aim of the EU MRV Regulation is to collect data on shipping emissions for further policymaking and to incentivise emission reductions by providing information on ships' efficiency to relevant markets. It obliges companies to monitor, report and verify the fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and energy efficiency of their ships on voyages to and from European Economic Area (EEA) ports on an annual basis, starting from 2018.

Following the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, in October 2016 the IMO adopted the legal framework for a global data collection system for fuel oil consumption of ships (“global IMO DCS”). Taking into account the coexistence of these two monitoring, reporting and verification systems, the Commission has examined how the two systems could be aligned in order to reduce the administrative burden on vessels, while preserving the objectives of the EU MRV Regulation.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the option chosen is a partial alignment of the two monitoring, reporting and verification systems to help reduce the administrative burden on shipping companies, while preserving the key objectives of the EU MRV Regulation.

However, this partial alignment should not change the EU MRV Regulation in terms of governance, the scope of the Regulation and its requirements for verification, transparency and reporting of CO2 emissions. Any amendment to the EU MRV Regulation should therefore be limited to aligning it with the IMO global data collection system for aspects relating to definitions, monitoring parameters and monitoring plans and templates.

CONTENT: the proposal to amend Regulation (EU) 2015/757 proposal aims at reducing the administrative burden for ships performing maritime transport activities that are covered by both the EU MRV Regulation and the global IMO DCS while preserving the specific objectives of the EU action in this area.

Therefore, the proposal seeks to:

· amend the definitions of "company" and "reporting period" and also the attribution of monitoring and reporting obligations in case of "changes of company". This will ensure that the same legal entities monitor and report according to similarly calculated reporting periods for their ships performing EEA-related maritime transport activities under the EU MRV Regulation and under the IMO's global data collection system;

· amend the monitoring parameters: for this purpose, (i) the deadweight parameter should be provided, but the declaration of the "cargo carried" should remain optional; (ii) the parameter "time at sea" should be replaced by the parameter "hours underway" as defined in the IMO global data collection system; (iii) the "distance travelled" should be calculated according to the method provided by the IMO global data collection system in order to reduce the administrative burden;

· streamline the content of monitoring plans to take into account the IMO's global data collection system, except for those provisions which are necessary to ensure that only EU-related data are monitored and reported under the EU MRV Regulation. Therefore, all provisions for "per voyage" monitoring should be maintained in the monitoring plan.

On the other hand, some relevant features of the EU MRV Regulation should be maintained:

scope in terms of ships and activities covered under the EU MRV Regulation will be maintained (thus covering the majority of ships above 5000 GT calling at EU ports for maritime transport purposes); ships' CO2 emissions within Union ports are also to be monitored and reported separately. Also data on voyages internal to any EU Member State is to be monitored and reported so as to enable Member States authorities to have robust and comparable data of their national shipping emissions. Current MRV provisions on verification of data by accredited third parties are to be kept ; the EU MRV Regulation provisions on publication of individual ships' data of CO2 emissions and energy efficiency is also to be kept.