Alliance to decarbonise water transport takes off in Europe

The European Commission and the Waterborne Technology Platform have agreed on a public-private partnership to decarbonise waterborne transport. The partnership brings together a large part of the European water transport sector.

The aim is to present zero-emission solutions for all vessel types and services in the maritime sector by 2030, making waterborne transport completely emission-free by 2050. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the partners during a ceremony at the European Research and Innovation Days.

The project is reportedly being funded under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme with a budget of around €3.8 billion – up to €530 million from the EU Commission and up to €3.3 billion from the other partners. The partners are to provide input and advice to the European Commission in order to identify research and innovation activities as well as to be able to define call topics for inclusion in Horizon Europe work programmes.

The partnership brings together much of Europe’s water transport sector, including shipyards and equipment suppliers, major container transport companies, research and cluster organisations, academia, classification societies, the inland waterways sector and associations representing the wider water transport sector.

“Today is a unique moment for the European waterborne transport sector, which is a strategically important sector for the EU,” commented Waterborne Technology Platform Chair Henk Prins. He said the partnership will not only promote and accelerate the transition to an environmentally friendly mode of transport in line with Europe’s Green Deal ambitions, but will also stimulate the green take-off of the sector.

waterborne.eu (PDF)