Associations representing the maritime industry have welcomed the European Commission’s new plan marrying climate action and competitiveness but highlighted the need for a much stronger effort from the EU to scale up the production of green fuels.
On February 26, 2025, the European Union unveiled the Clean Industrial Deal, a transformational business plan outlining concrete actions to turn decarbonization into ‘a driver of growth‘ for European industries by supporting renewable energy sources.
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Three challenges— a climate crisis and its consequences , competitiveness concerns , and economic resilience —are to be tackled with the new plan.
European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) saluted the recognition of shipping under the five sectors across which the Clean Industrial Deal should be implemented.
“Clean Industrial Deal recognises competitiveness and decarbonisation as a security imperative. We strongly welcome the recognition of shipping as one of the priority sectors of the Clean Industrial Deal. Shipping is a cornerstone of Europe’s energy and supply chain security and in the frontline of the energy transition,” Sotiris Raptis , ECSA Secretary General, commented.
“This is the time for urgent action to make the necessary investments in clean tech and fuels, to maintain the international competitiveness of our industry and to enhance the security of our continent. EU member states must use the 9 billion of the shipping ETS revenues to support the production of clean fuels . We also urge the Commission to cut red tape and ensure an international level playing field.”
Ensuring targeted investment in the production, distribution, and uptake of sustainable maritime fuels under the upcoming Sustainable Transport Investment Plan is crucial to meeting the sector’s decarbonization targets while safeguarding the competitiveness of European shipping, according to the association.
ECSA said it is key for the competitiveness of the European industry to implement the commission’s commitment and reduce reporting burden by at least 25% for all companies and at least 35% for SMEs, which are the backbone of the European shipping industry. In this regard, the first simplification package (omnibus package), is a good step forward. The revision of Taxonomy should also make its sustainability criteria fit for purpose for the shipping sector.
The next simplification packages should also consider the progress made and the implementation of the IMO GHG Strategy with the aim to align EU legislation and ensure an international level playing field, the association added.
“The launch of a new mechanism under the European Hydrogen Bank to de-risk investments in fuels for shipping is a positive development. Leveraging EU and national ETS revenues is essential to build industrial capacity in Europe and to bridge the immense price gap between conventional and clean fuels that can be up to five times more expensive. In this regard, grants- and auctions-as-a-Service mechanisms can help pool national ETS revenues to support these objectives,” ECSA noted.
Danish Shipping—an association that has nearly 90 members including shipping and offshore companies—has welcomed the focus on increasing and lowering the cost of renewable energy but also urged the EU to commit to accelerating production of green fuels, particularly for shipping.
“The Commission is focusing on exactly the right areas: competitiveness and green transition. These are fields where Europe has huge untapped potential – but where we also risk being left behind by the US and China if we do not act now,” Anne H. Steffensen , CEO of Danish Shipping, emphasized.
“There are some excellent initiatives, such as a strong focus on the large-scale deployment of renewable energy and lower energy prices. And it is very positive that there is an emphasis on the production of green technology and green fuels within the EU. However, I need to see concrete plans for a massive scaling up of green fuel production. Without green fuels to power our ships, we will never achieve our goal of climate-neutral shipping .”
Among the other measures of particular significance for shipping are improved opportunities for EU funding, including national state aid for green fuel investments, new contractual frameworks between buyers and producers, international trade and investment partnerships—such as those ensuring global green corridors—as well as increased demand for hydrogen to help produce low-emission fuels for shipping.
The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO)—the representative body of the ports authorities, port associations and port administrations—said it perceives the document as ‘a first but important step’ to advance on the decarbonization track, while making Europe more competitive and strong.
More in particular, Europe’s ports support the commission’s intentions to intensify efforts to ease permitting procedures in Europe, the willingness to look into a more pragmatic approach to the definition of low carbon hydrogen, the proposal to identify and focus on industrial clusters, the initiatives regarding circular economy, and the plans to lower the energy prices.
Europe’s ports also back the commission‘s understanding that the demand side needs to be boosted in order to build the business case for decarbonized products. Ports share the view that there must be a market in order to successfully attract investors.
“Ports are not only hubs in the supply chain, but through their hub function they are also clustering many industrial activities. We see in the Clean Industrial Deal launched today a lot of understanding of the challenges to combine decarbonisation and competitiveness in Europe. The document is in that sense a good first step, but a lot will depend on its concrete implementation,” Isabelle Ryckbost , ESPO’s Secretary General, stressed.
“To give an example, the last years, important legislative efforts have been made to ease permitting procedures, in particular through the Net-Zero Industry Act and RePowerEU, but very little has changed on the ground. On the contrary, new sectoral legislation risks to further complicate and delay these processes,” she added.
Associations representing the maritime industry have welcomed the European Commission’s new plan marrying climate action and competitiveness but highlighted the need for a much stronger effort from the EU to scale up the production of green fuels.
