(1)

The Paris Agreement (4), adopted on 12 December 2015 under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (the ‘Paris Agreement’), entered into force on 4 November 2016. The Parties to the Paris Agreement have agreed to hold the increase in the global average temperature well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 °C above pre-industrial levels. That commitment has been reinforced with the adoption under the UNFCCC of the Glasgow Climate Pact on 13 November 2021, in which the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, recognises that the impacts of climate change will be much lower at a temperature increase of 1,5 °C, compared with 2 °C, and resolves to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 °C.

(2)

The urgency of the need to keep the Paris Agreement goal of 1,5 °C alive has become more significant following the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Sixth Assessment Report that global warming can only be limited to 1,5 °C if strong and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions within this decade are immediately undertaken.

(3)

Tackling climate- and environmental-related challenges and reaching the objectives of the Paris Agreement are at the core of the communication of the Commission of 11 December 2019 on ‘The European Green Deal’ (the ‘European Green Deal’).

(4)

The European Green Deal combines a comprehensive set of mutually reinforcing measures and initiatives aimed at achieving climate neutrality in the Union by 2050, and sets out a new growth strategy that aims to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. It also aims to protect, conserve and enhance the Union’s natural capital, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. This transition affects workers from various sectors differently. At the same time, that transition has gender equality aspects as well as a particular impact on some disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, such as older people, persons with disabilities, persons with a minority racial or ethnic background and low and lower-middle income individuals and households. It also imposes greater challenges on certain regions, in particular structurally disadvantaged and peripheral regions, as well as on islands. It must therefore be ensured that the transition is just and inclusive, leaving no one behind.

(5)

The necessity and the value of delivering on the European Green Deal have only grown in light of the very severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health, the living and working conditions and the well-being of the Union’s citizens. Those effects have shown that our society and our economy need to improve their resilience in relation to external shocks and act early to prevent or mitigate the effects of external shocks in a manner that is just and results in no one being left behind, including those at risk of energy poverty. European citizens continue to express strong views that this applies in particular to climate change.

(6)

The Union committed to reducing the Union’s economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % compared to 1990 levels by 2030 in the updated nationally determined contribution submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat on 17 December 2020.

(7)

Through the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), the Union has enshrined in legislation the objective of economy-wide climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest and the aim of achieving negative emissions thereafter. That Regulation also establishes a binding Union domestic reduction target for net greenhouse gas emissions (emissions after deduction of removals) of at least 55 % compared to 1990 levels by 2030, and provides that the Commission is to endeavour to align all future draft measures or legislative proposals, including budgetary proposals, with the objectives of that Regulation and, in any case of non-alignment, provide the reasons for such non-alignment as part of the impact assessment accompanying those proposals.

(8)

All sectors of the economy need to contribute to achieving the emission reductions established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1119. Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) is therefore being amended to include maritime transport activities in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in order to ensure that those activities contribute their fair share to the increased climate objectives of the Union as well as to the objectives of the Paris Agreement. It is therefore also necessary to amend Regulation (EU) 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) to take into account the inclusion of maritime transport activities in the EU ETS.

(9)

Furthermore, to take into account the increased climate objectives of the Union as well as the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the scope of Regulation (EU) 2015/757 should be amended. A robust monitoring, reporting and verification system is a prerequisite for any market-based measure, efficiency standard or other relevant measure, whether applied at Union level or globally. While carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions represent the large majority of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions represent a relevant share of such emissions. The inclusion of CH4 and N2O emissions in Regulation (EU) 2015/757 would be beneficial for environmental integrity and incentivising good practices, and should apply from 2024. General cargo ships below 5 000 gross tonnage but not below 400 gross tonnage represent a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions of all general cargo ships. To increase the environmental effectiveness of the monitoring, reporting and verification system, ensure a level-playing field and reduce the risk of circumvention, general cargo ships below 5 000 gross tonnage but not below 400 gross tonnage should be included in Regulation (EU) 2015/757 from 2025. Offshore ships emit a relevant share of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, that Regulation should also apply to offshore ships of 400 gross tonnage and above from 2025. The Commission should assess before 31 December 2024 whether additional ship types below 5 000 gross tonnage but not below 400 gross tonnage should be included in Regulation (EU) 2015/757.

(10)

Regulation (EU) 2015/757 should be amended to oblige companies to report aggregated emissions data at company level and submit such data to the administering authority responsible and to submit for approval to that authority their verified monitoring plans. When performing verification at company level, the verifier should not verify the emissions reports at ship level or the reports at ship level to be submitted where there is a change of company, as those reports at ship level will have been already verified. To ensure coherence in administration and enforcement, the entity responsible for compliance with Regulation (EU) 2015/757 should be the same as the entity responsible for compliance with Directive 2003/87/EC.

(11)

In order to ensure the effective functioning of the EU ETS at administrative level and to take into account the inclusion of CH4 and N2O emissions, as well as the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions from offshore ships, within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2015/757, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the monitoring methods and rules and the reporting rules for emissions covered by Regulation (EU) 2015/757, as well as for any other relevant information set out in that Regulation, the rules for the approval of monitoring plans, and changes thereto, by the administering authorities responsible, the rules for the monitoring, reporting and submission of aggregated emissions data at company level and the rules for verification of aggregated emissions data at company level and for the issuance of verification reports in respect of aggregated emissions data at company level. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (8). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(12)

Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to provide for monitoring, reporting and verification rules that are necessary for an extension of the EU ETS to maritime transport activities and to provide for the monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions of additional greenhouse gases and emissions from additional ship types, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(13)

Regulation (EU) 2015/757 should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

the title is replaced by the following:

‘Regulation (EU) 2015/757 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport, and amending Directive 2009/16/EC’;

(2)

throughout the Regulation, except in Article 2, Article 5(2) and Article 21(5) and Annexes I and II, the term ‘CO2’ is replaced by ‘greenhouse gas’ and any necessary grammatical changes are made;

(3)

Article 1 is replaced by the following:

(4)

in Article 2, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

(5)

Article 3 is amended as follows:

(6)

in Article 4, the following paragraph is added:

(7)

in Article 5, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following:

(8)

Article 6 is amended as follows:

(9)

Article 7 is amended as follows:

(10)

in Article 10, first paragraph, the following point is added:

(11)

Article 11 is amended as follows:

(12)

the following article is inserted:

(13)

Article 12 is amended as follows:

(14)

Article 13 is amended as follows:

(15)

Article 14 is amended as follows:

(16)

in Article 15, the following paragraph is added:

(17)

in Article 16, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

(18)

Article 20 is amended as follows:

(19)

Article 21 is amended as follows:

(20)

the following article is inserted:

(21)

Article 23 is amended as follows: