Page 164 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΟΚΤΩΒΡΙΟΣ 2024

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

Angel Alvarez Alberdi underlines that biofuels are the most
“technologically ready” existing lower carbon-fuel option for maritime,
as many vessels cannot easily switch to alternative renewable fuels due
to the current lack of infrastructure and grid capacity constraints.

EWABA*

IS PAVING THE WAY

FOR SUSTAINABLE

MARITIME RANSPORT

*European Waste-based & Advanced Biofuels Association

For over a century, the maritime sector has been running
on residual fuels, but currently, it is undergoing a grad-
ual transition that will see the maritime fuel landscape
change in the coming decades.
The maritime sector has an immensely challenging task
ahead of it since it is considered one of the sectors where
residual emissions abatement will be difficult. The Future
of European Competitiveness report, or else the "Draghi
report," identifies shipping as one of the most difficult
sectors to decarbonise, estimating that it will require
around 40 billion in annual investments between 2031
and 2050.
In 2023, the International Maritime Organisation adopted
the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions
from Ships. As of 2024, shipping is included in the EU
Emissions Trading System (ETS), while FuelEU Maritime,
which will enter into force in 2025, is a new European reg-
ulation that will mandate reducing the yearly average well-
to-wake GHG intensity of energy used onboard all ships
above 5,000 gross tonnage transporting passengers or
cargo. The focal GHG intensity reduction targets are set
to rise incrementally from 2% in 2025 to 80% in 2050.
The upcoming regulations pave the way for the EU to
become a global leader in maritime transport decarboni-
sation by significantly reducing emissions in the shipping
by Angel Alvarez Alberdi, sector, which means that the shipping sector is already
Secretary General looking into alternative fuels, and it is fair to say that it is
at the European Waste-based & Advanced a newcomer to the green fuel market.
Biofuels Association of (EWABA)
That is the main reason behind the recent launch of the

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