3 April 2025

by Ross Wombwell

On the 25 March the Department for Transport (DfT) released the long-awaited Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy setting out the UK governments plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 0 by 2050, this release closely following the Climate Change Committee's Carbon Budget 7 release on the 26 February.

Within the new strategy the DfT have set a high level goal of at least a 30% reduction in maritime emissions by 2030 and an 80% reduction by 2040 relative to 2008 levels, on the way to zero fuel lifecycle GHG emissions by 2050.

There are five key policy measures set out in this strategy to achieve these targets:

• Regulate fuel use
• Place a price on emissions
• Consider a requirement for zero or near zero greenhouse gas emissions from vessels whilst at berth
• Implement proportionate measures to support smaller vessels to decarbonise and accelerate uptake in targeted sub sectors
• Increase energy efficiency of maritime operations

As can be seen there is a new focus on small craft and “the development of proportionate measures to reduce emissions, with an initial focus on vessels with a clear route to decarbonisation.”

Within the strategy inland waterways and leisure vessels are combined into a particular subsector, with a recognition by DfT of the lack of detailed data on the usage within this subsector a new call for evidence has also been released.

The “Decarbonising Smaller Vessels “call for evidence opened on the 25 March and closes on the 25 July, this call for evidence is to inform policy making regarding the “strategy commitment to introduce emissions reduction measures for vessels with a gross tonnage below 400 and vessels that could decarbonise quickly”.

What is clear from the first reading of both the strategy and the call for evidence is that the recommendations from the Climate Change Committee's 7th Carbon Budget have not transferred directly into the Department for Transport plans. Specifically the Committee’s proposed 2050 Balanced Pathway, whereby half of the inland waterways and leisure vessel fleet decarbonises by switching to electric drive-technology which is already being deployed today and the other half of the fleet switching to biofuels.

The lack of referencing may just be due to the lack of time between the release of the two documents or maybe could be for other reasons, it is therefore imperative that the industry is prepared to strongly reinforce our commitment to following the Climate Change Committees decarbonisation pathway for inland and leisure vessels set out in their 7^th Carbon Budget.

Reading the call for evidence detail the DfT are clearly stating that recreational craft have a clear decarbonisation pathway, as an industry we must ensure that the pathway they have identified is the one set out by the Climate Change Committee.

British Marine will be analysing the strategy and its possible implications for members over the next few months and adjusting our engagement with government to reflect this strategy update, we will also be engaging with members to ensure that as an industry we have a robust response to the call for evidence to ensure our policy objective of a fair decarbonisation transition is achieved for our sector.  

If you have any questions regarding the call for evidence or maritime decarbonisation strategy please contact technical@britishmarine.co.uk or in relation to government engagement on this issue, contact jrichardson@britishmarine.co.uk