Clean transport campaigner European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E) on Tuesday (15 December), together with 130 NGOs and experts, said the EU’s green finance rules must be grounded on science.
The development took place after the European Commission proposed to designate fossil-fuel powered ships, bioenergy, hazardous chemicals and other polluting activities as ‘sustainable’ investments.
In a T&E statement, the group said the EU executive appeared to have ignored the recommendations of its own technical expert group, which were largely science-based and robust.
The groups, including Transport & Environment (T&E), flagged 10 priority areas of concern in the Commission’s draft legislation, which covers which sectors can be classed as ‘sustainable’ in terms of their environmental impact. The draft Delegated Act for a green taxonomy is open for public consultation until Friday (December 18).
While the Commission rightly says that vehicles must be emissions-free to be considered ‘green’ investments after 2025, the taxonomy leaves the way open to polluting ships.
Without external experts or civil society, the Commission proposed standards so low that almost all coastal cargo ships sailing today could be labelled green, noted T&E.
The standard for ocean-going ships too is so low that it would already be met by new fossil diesel ships without them being required to use cleaner technology or alternative fuels.
“If fossil-fuel burning cargo ships are considered sustainable, you know something is wrong,” said Luca Bonaccorsi, director of sustainable finance at T&E.
“The EU is setting the gold standard for green finance in so many sectors, but bowing to vested interests in some industries brings the entire Taxonomy into disrepute. It’s time to heed the science-based evidence of the technical expert group.”
Photo credit: cameron-venti
Published: 16 December, 2020
The top three positive movers in the 2020 bunker supplier list are Hong Lam Fuels Pte Ltd (+13); Chevron Singapore Pte Ltd (+12); and SK Energy International (+8), according to MPA list.
‘We will operate in the Singapore bunkering market from the Tokyo, with support from local staff at Sumitomo Corporation Singapore,’ source tells Manifold Times.
Changes include abolishing advance declaration of bunkers as dangerous cargo, reducing pilotage fees on vessels receiving bunkers, and a ‘whitelist’ system for bunker tankers.
Claim relates to deliveries of MGO to the vessels Pacific Diligence, Pacific Valkyrie, Pacific Defiance, Crest Alpha 1, and Pacific Warlock between March 2020 to April 2020.
3,490 mt of LSFO from Itochu Enex was lifted at Universal Terminal; the same bunker stem was bought by Global Marine Logistics and delivered by bunker tanker Juma to receiving vessel Kirana Nawa.
Representatives of Veritas Petroleum Services, Maersk, INTERTANKO, ElbOil Singapore, and SDE International provide insight from their respective fields of expertise on what lies ahead.