Europe’s waterborne transport sector plays a vital role in economic prosperity. Around 77% of European external trade and 35% of all trade between EU Member States is transported by water, underlining its importance to both international and internal markets.
However, this comes with a significant environmental cost. According to the European Environment Agency and the European Maritime Safety Agency, shipping accounts for around 14% of all transport-related greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to more than 130 million tonnes of CO2. While this is lower than emissions from road transport and aviation (71% and 15% respectively), it still represents a substantial carbon footprint.
With demand for shipping expected to grow significantly in the coming years, emissions from this sector could increase by up to 50% by 2050. The EU is committed to supporting the development and deployment of cleaner technologies and solutions that can mitigate this increase.
Through advances in efficiency, renewable energy and clean technologies, these initiatives are helping the waterborne transport sector reduce its energy use and move towards a lower-carbon future.
Discover project examples
The Orcelle project is advancing a new approach to ship propulsion. With the goal of building the world’s first wind-powered car and truck carrier, Orcelle has designed wind-harnessing vertical sails, known as wings which can each save around 5% of the fuel of the ship.
EU contribution: €9 million
Funding programme: Horizon Europe - Mobility
Lead partner: Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean (Norway)
The SustainSea project is integrating an innovative suction sail system into maritime transport. Developed by bound4blue, the eSAIL® wind propulsion system allows a wide variety of vessels to sail using wind as complementary propulsion, providing fuel savings.
EU contribution: €4.1 million
Funding programme: Innovation Fund
Lead partner: Bound 4 Blue (Spain)
The CO2NTROL project developed an end-to-end solution for planning and tracking shipments. Not only will the solution help ship operators calculate their carbon footprint, but it will also provide them with an optimal route in terms of CO2 emissions from pickup to delivery.
EU contribution: €2.9 million
Funding programme: EMFF – Blue Economy
Lead partner: BuyCo (France)
The H2ydroShuttle project aims to retrofit two short-sea container ships installing different net-zero and energy saving technologies such as Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) systems and multi-megawatt hydrogen fuel cells.
EU contribution: €47.1 million
Funding programme: Innovation Fund
Lead partner: Navco (The Netherlands)
The project brings together a consortium of experts from around Europe to develop a modular retrofit solution. It integrates a wind solar hybrid power system to cut auxiliary engine emissions and a tilting wing sail system for wind-assisted propulsion. WHISPER will validate the concept by demonstrating efficiency savings of more than 20%.
EU contribution: €9.0 million
Funding programme: Horizon Europe - Mobility
Lead partner: VERKIS HF (Iceland)
HY2FISH develops and tests new technologies for a demonstrator fishing vessel to support a more sustainable fishing industry.
Activities include designing recyclable hull appendages improving hydrodynamics and reducing noise, hybrid propulsion with hydrogen rotary generators, fuel cells, and marine batteries, as well as installing lightweight flexible photovoltaic panels.
EU contribution: €2.2 million
Funding programme: PPPA – Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions scheme
Lead partner: ARVI (Spain)
The project ‘OceanWINgs developed a NEW wind propulsion technology to lead the shipping industry’s shift towards a blue economy. It supported the scale-up and market launch of the OceanWings solution: 363m2 wing sails that can allow commercial ships to reduce up to 45% their fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
EU contribution: €2.3 million
Funding programme: EMFF
Lead partner: OCEANWINGS (France)
GreenMED takes a holistic and regional approach to reducing emissions and energy consumption in maritime transport in the Mediterranean. It supports an energy transition for the region’s shipping industry with data sharing and decision support tools on fuel demand, alternative fuels and port infrastructure, notably the .
EU contribution: €0.74 million
Funding programme: EMFAF
Lead partner: ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION (Greece)