SHIPPING and alternative fuel lobby groups have called on European policymakers for help to build a supply chain for green fuels.

The new ‘Clean Maritime Fuels Platform’ includes the European Community Shipowners’ Associations, FuelsEurope, Hydrogen Europe, the e-Fuel Alliance, advanced biofuels association Ewaba, and the Methanol Institute.

“The Clean Maritime Fuels Platform calls for creating the regulatory conditions to unlock investments in the production of clean maritime fuels in the EU,” a joint statement said.

“The objective should be to create a European manufacturing capacity capable to match the EU demand for clean shipping fuels in Europe as much as possible, in line with the benchmark of the Net Zero Industry Act.”

The groups warned that clean fuels cost up to five times as much as fossil fuels.

They pointed to Mario Draghi’s recent report on boosting European growth, which said shipping would need around €40bn ($43bn) in annual investments between 2031 and 2050 to decarbonise.

But schemes such as those based on contracts for difference and auctions as a service could help de-risk investment.

“The 20m EU ETS allowances allocated to the decarbonisation of the maritime sector until 2030 should be used as soon as possible,” the groups added.

Re-elected European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has promised a new Clean Industrial Deal to help hard-to-abate sectors, prompting much lobbying in Brussels.

Green shipping regulation is in the spotlight this week with the European Commissioner hearings, in which MEPs grill hopefuls for top Commission jobs over their policy bona fides.

The next transport commissioner is expected to be Apostolos Tzitzikostas, a Greek economist and former regional governor of Central Macedonia, from the centre-right European People’s Party.

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