The Sustainable Blue Economy offers many solutions to achieve the European Green Deal objectives. However, this requires current activities, technologies and processes to reduce their carbon footprint. In response, the European Commission adopted a package of measures in February 2023 including most importantly for this study the Communication on the Energy Transition of the EU Fisheries and Aquaculture sector. The package proposes a series of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon climate neutrality by 2050. This study is a cooperation between Ecorys, Stratégies Mar et Littoral SAS (SML) and Bluefarm and maps out low-carbon energy innovations and efficiency solutions; analyses energy use over time; associated CO2 emissions; the cost to reduce them; and the viability of decarbonisation technologies. It identifies potential solutions for the fisheries and aquaculture sector, assesses their financial viability and provides recommendations for overcoming barriers to implementation. Among others, the CE Shipping model has been used to relate the costs of innovation to the CO2-reduction (including a marginal abatement curve). The specificities of fisheries and aquaculture are addressed separately, with recommendations for the two provided accordingly. Potential synergies for the energy transition within the sectors, are also identified.
The study can be downloaded here: Techno-economic analysis for the energy transition of the EU fisheries and aquaculture sector – Publications Office of the EU