Development of a methodology to assess the 'green' impacts of investment in the maritime sector and projects : executive summary

The European Green Deal is the cornerstone of European Union climate policy. It establishes the clear target of becoming climate neutral by 2050. To reach this ambitious goal, it will require reducing EU's GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and 90% in transport emissions by 2050. This objective is embedded in the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy adopted at the end of 2020. All transport modes including maritime sector will need to contribute to this objective. Shipping is one of the least carbon intensive ways to transport goods. However, it constitutes a significant share of the total global emissions, corresponding to 2.9% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. To reduce the emissions from maritime transport, the European Commission (EC) aims to propose measures, to work alongside with the on-going work at International Maritime Organisation (IMO) level. Those measures in-clude incorporating the maritime sector into the European Emission Trading System (ETS), the Fuel EU Maritime initiative to boost the demand for sustainable alternative fuels as well as the reviews of the directives on energy taxation, alternative fuel infra-structure, and renewable energy. The achievement of the Green Deal objectives will require significant investments. The Green Deal reaffirms the EC's commitment to pursue green finance and investment while ensuring a just transition. The EU Taxonomy to facilitate sustainable investment plays a pivotal role in shifting capital flows towards sustainable investments. According to the Sustainable and Smart mobility Strategy, the technical screening criteria based on the Taxonomy should be defined for all transport modes by 2021. However, the initial proposal for technical screening criteria for the Taxonomy developed by the Technical Expert Group on sustainable finance (TEG) did not include the maritime sector. While the TEG agreed that the work on maritime criteria should be prioritised, given its potential contribution to the greening of the transport sector, it could not conclude its assessment within the time available. Furthermore, according to the Taxonomy Regulation, all relevant economic activities within a specific sector (e.g. transport) should be covered if they contribute equally towards the environmental objectives, to avoid distorting competition in the market. This study was therefore launched by the Commission to fill the gap in the TEG's initial analysis and assess which economic activities and under which conditions could be considered environ-mentally sustainable in line with the Taxonomy Regulation. The climate mitigation and adaptation criteria for maritime shipping in the Commission 2021 Delegated Regulation supplementing the Taxonomy Regulation are based on the analysis and findings of this study. In addition, a draft final report was submitted in January 2021 to the Plat-form on Sustainable Finance to assist their further work.