#FitFor55 Webinar Series

Combining the different policy instruments of the Fit for 55 packages and adapting them to simultaneously address the decarbonization of various sectors, such as buildings, transport, agriculture, and industry, has proven a monumental effort by EU lawmakers. The EU’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 has left stakeholders and economic actors with questions on the direction proposed by the Commission, the perceived role of renewable and low-carbon fuels in the energy transition of mobility, and a lack of coherency between the different policies.

To try to frame and gain answers to these questions, we at MI put together a series of webinars focused on the Fit for 55 package, inviting speakers from the European legislative bodies, methanol producers, technology providers, and stakeholders to share their perspectives on three key elements of the Fit for 55 package; the contribution of liquid fuels in the energy transition of road mobility, eFuels and their potential for decarbonization and the implications of Fit for 55 for maritime transport.

The first webinar on the role of liquid fuels in decarbonizing road mobility featured speakers from the European Commission , FuelsEurope – the voice of the EU refining industry, and methanol producer OCI Global . The discussion centered on the proposed CO2 emission standards for cars and vans, which set a de-facto ban on new sales of vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine by 2035. Mr. Zlatko Kregar from the Commission explained that renewable and liquid fuels could play a significant role in the energy transition. Still, that role should be reserved for hard-to-abate mobility segments such as maritime and aviation. Mrs. Emanuela Sardellitti from FuelsEurope argued that while electrification of the passenger vehicle segment was pivotal to the energy transition, the complementary contributions of renewable and low-carbon fuels should not be ignored under policy and that the approach the Commission has taken would ignore the need to reduce emissions from the hundreds of millions of vehicles currently equipped with the internal combustion engine. Mr.Struve underscored that methanol’s compatibility with existing infrastructure makes it well suited to address the challenges of the energy transition. “By capturing methane gas into biogas and having that quickly turned into liquid form through a methanol plant and allowing it to be dispersed safely and efficiently through the EU fuel distribution system is a great way of dramatically reducing carbon emission in a short amount of time.” Mr. Struve remarked.

The webinar on Power-to-X (PtX) attempted to answer important questions about eFuels in the context of Fit for 55, including but not limited to: how will captured carbon emissions be treated when determining eFuel carbon footprint, how the renewable character of energy input into eFuel production will be verified, which incentive mechanisms should be adopted to facilitate their integration into the fuel mix and what role eFuels might play in the energy transition of chemical value chains. Speakers agreed that pivotal steps had been taken with the EC proposals. Still, the legislation needed to be refined to ensure that eFuels from captured carbon could be considered net carbon neutral. GHG accounting was also a fundamental element in the final webinar session on the maritime policy under Fit for 55, featuring speakers from the European Parliament and shipping company 马士基 methanol producer Proman AG. Dutch S&D MEP Vera Tax shared her vision on the energy transition of maritime transport. She underscored the need to create policy levers to facilitate the gradual integration of climate-neutral methanol into the marine fuel pool. Mr. Philipsen expanded on A.P. M?ller-M?rsk's position that renewable methanol is indispensable to attain the objectives of Fit for 55 in the maritime sector. To unlock the full potential of methanol and ensure its necessary market ramp-up, Mr. Philipsen recommended three fundamental changes to the currently proposed legislation: the use of a Well-to-wake approach when measuring GHG emissions under the ETS Maritime legislation, encouraging the use of RFNBO’s under FuelEU maritime by applying a multiplier in conjunction with raising the GHG reduction targets and a multiplier for fuels used in maritime transport under the Renewable Energy Directive, to make sure the added supply of renewable and low carbon fuels goes into maritime transport. Mr. Peter Schild from Proman agreed with the other speakers on the need to adjust policy instruments to reflect the environmental performance of marine fuels from a life-cycle perspective. Furthermore, he underlined the market readiness of methanol as a marine fuel. “The technology is ready, the product supply and logistics systems are in place, but now it is time to make sure that the awareness is also there and that governments and regulators are taking action to help level the playing field to make sure low-emission fuels are competitive.”