EMEA News
New Fuels Need Certainty to Grow, Says Senior French Exec
If US government policy is to keep away from the new bunker fuels, finding the right level of investment for the sector could be problematic, a senior French energy executive has said.
Francis Parmentier, who is managing director of Evolen, an umbrella organisation covering a range of energy firms focused on alternative energies and infrastructure, said that he felt more confident about the emerging market for alternative fuels a year ago than he does today.
Even without US participation, if the rest of the world decides to use these new fuels, it could work, he told Ship&Bunker on the side lines of an event held at the International Maritime Organisation headquarters in London this week.
Parmentier said that decisions at MEPC83, where the mechanics of how to curtail greenhouse gas emissions are being worked out, are "very important" to the future development of alternative fuels.
Parmentier was part of a high-level French delegation presenting the country's maritime decarbonisation plan at the IMO.
While as yet unconfirmed as US government policy, a note from the Trump administration circulating at MEPC83 appears to adopt a negative stance towards alternative marine fuels for ships.
Evolen is based in France and is linked to similar clusters of companies across Europe.
