Shipping companies, if they meet the necessary requirements, can claim a zero-rating of CO2 emissions from sustainable biomass under the EU ETS and/or report the use for the GHG reduction requirement under FuelEU Maritime.
To qualify for these claims, shipping companies must demonstrate that the biofuel complies with the monitoring and reporting procedures set out in Regulation 2015/757 (the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Regulation, or MRV) and with the sustainability criteria and greenhouse gas emission saving criteria for the use of biomass established in Regulation 2018/2001 (the Renewable Energy Directive, or RED-II).
Scenario 1: PoS is available
Compliance to RED-II criteria can be demonstrated through a Proof of Sustainability (PoS). The figure below depicts the scenario in case the PoS is available to demonstrate the sustainability criteria for biomass used under EU ETS/FuelEU reporting.
Image: © NEa
Figure 1: Schematic overview showing how biomass sustainability is demonstrated for EU ETS/FuelEU reporting in Scenario 1.
Scenario 2: No PoS is available: Proof of Compliance (PoC)
In cases where a fuel supplier is not able to provide the PoS to the shipping company because of other obligations, the shipping company could request a replacement: a so-called Proof of Compliance (PoC). The content of the PoC could mirror that of the PoS and include a reference to the IMO number of receiving ship and a reference to the corresponding Bunker Delivery Note (BDN) provided to the ship in 7 connection to MARPOL Annex VI requirements.
The Ministerial regulation ('Regeling handel in emissierechten') was amended at the end of 2024 allowing for the use of an alternative equivalent, i.e. the PoC for EU ETS MRV.
For the use under FeulEU Maritime the Commission endorses the guidance as published by the ESSF SAPS stating the use of a (PoC in those case where the PoS is surrendered by the supplier under the national mandate.
Figure 2 depicts the scenario in case the PoC is available to demonstrate the sustainability criteria of the used biomass under the EU ETS and the FuelEU Maritime Regulation.
Image: © NEa
Figure 2: Schematic overview showing how biomass sustainability is demonstrated for EU ETS/FuelEU reporting in Scenario 2.
Scenario 3: No PoS or PoC is available: temporary measure in The Netherlands to enable the parallel claim of renewable energy
The Netherlands has implemented the RED-II using the opt-in for fuel deliveries to the maritime sector. When fuel suppliers supply sustainable fuels, they can generate renewable energy units (HBEs) if they submit a PoS to the NEa. A PoS can only be issued once for a batch of fuels, which is why it is no longer available to a shipping company for its EU ETS/FuelEU reporting.
To resolve this issue and make it possible for both fuel suppliers and shipping companies to claim the sustainable attributes of the fuels, the Ministerial regulation ('Regeling handel in emissierechten') was amended.
This enabled the NEa to implement a temporary measure that allows parallel claims of biofuels by both fuel suppliers under the national mandate and shipping companies under the EU ETS until the European solution (the Union Database; UDB) is implemented.
To re-iterate, the temporary measure only applies to those situations where shipping companies have bunkered biofuels supplied from Dutch fuel suppliers attributed to the NEa and where a PoS is not issued to the ship as the fuel supplier surrenders the PoS to the NEa in order to receive HBEs.
Practical implementation of Scenario 3
The NEa maintains a national registry (Register Energie voor Vervoer; REV) where fuel suppliers report sustainable fuel supplied in the Netherlands for the annual obligation renewable energy for transport. In this registry, fuel suppliers give reference to the PoS.
For parallel claims, fuel suppliers now have to add relevant information for each registration, such as the specific delivery date, the recipient of the fuel (IMO number, ship name) and the BDN number. This allows the NEa to link the PoS from the fuel delivered to the fuel purchased, mirroring the functionality that will be provided by the UDB once it is operational.
Fuel suppliers have to retrieve extracts from their fuel registrations in the REV and provide them to the shipping companies. Then, the shipping companies are required to supply additional evidence to the verifier (and if requested) to the NEa, such as the BDN, extracts from the fuel registrations in the REV and the fuel registration number.
In the figure below, the temporary solution that enables the parallel claim of renewable energy (scenario 3) is depicted.
Image: © NEa
Figure 3: Schematic overview showing how biomass sustainability is demonstrated for EU ETS/FuelEU reporting in Scenario 3.
Practical information for shipping companies in scenario 3
Shipping companies should consider the following practical steps when opting for the national interim solution:
- Your fuel supplier needs to register the relevant information in the REV. The NEa has informed fuel suppliers about what information is needed and should be delivered to the shipping companies
- Aks your fuel supplier to provide you with information from the REV regarding the fuel delivery including: the name and IMO number of the ship , the BDN, the date of delivery and the energy content of the delivery in GJ
- Draft the emissions report (ETS) and/or FuelEU Report (Fuel EU) and specify the amount of zero rated and/or used biofuels
- Submit the information under 2 and 3 to your verifier
- Submit your approved emissions and/or FR report to Thetis-MRV