Two industry lobbying groups have issued a statement calling on the EU to recognize biomethane and biomethane-based fuels produced using a mass balance chain of custody from non-EU grids under its Union Database (UDB) system.
The UDB, which traces the origin and sustainability of renewable fuels, would apply to all clean fuels that touch an interconnected gas grid.
ReSource previously covered the complexities introduced by the European Commission’s effort to govern the complete clean fuels value chain under the UDB.
The signatories of the letter, SEA-LNG and the Methanol Institute, note that if such an exclusion materializes, “it will create a trade barrier that threatens to impede the importation of biomethane and biomethanol into the European Union, limiting the availability of these fuels to the bunkering industry in Europe.
The statement adds: “Furthermore, it may also disqualify such fuels, bunkered outside the EU, and produced using a chain of custody approach mass balanced across non-EU interconnected gas grids from being certified against the requirements of the Renewable Energy Directive II (REDII). Consequently, these fuels would not count in relation to compliance with FuelEU Maritime carbon intensity reduction targets or be recognised as zero rate for EU ETS.”
The letter goes on to call for a meeting among industry representatives and the European Commision.
