Furetank, the Swedish tanker operator, has secured large-scale supplies of renewable biomethane and launched a new emissions trading venture under the EU’s FuelEU Maritime regulation.
The company has signed an agreement that will cover all the biogas required to operate its wholly and partly owned gas-fuelled vessels trading in the EU throughout 2025. The biomethane, produced from agricultural waste by Cargill and liquefied for shipping by Titan Clean Fuels, enables what Furetank describes as ‘an immediate transition’ to renewable operations. The fuel is said to deliver a 150–200% greenhouse gas saving on a well-to-wake basis, reflecting avoided emissions compared with fossil fuels.
Viktoria Höglund, Sustainability Strategist at Furetank and newly appointed CEO of CO2mpliance, said: ‘This was our target when we converted our first vessel to gas propulsion in 2015. It is remarkable that we have finally reached the point we have worked for and talked about for so long. At last, the right incentives are in place to make the business case possible.’
The move coincides with the launch of CO2mpliance, a Furetank-owned subsidiary created to manage emissions trading under the FuelEU Maritime framework. The regulation, in force since January 2025, requires commercial vessels trading in the EU to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of their energy use by 2% from 2020 levels during 2025–2029, rising to 80% by 2050. Operators exceeding their targets can sell surplus reductions; those lagging must buy credits or face penalties.
‘Our recent agreement for large-scale deliveries of mass-balanced biomethane gives us the opportunity to trade compliance surplus – both for ourselves and for others,’ said Höglund. ‘We have the entire chain of expertise required in line with the new regulation and the specific conditions of shipping.’
The subsidiary aims to act as a service provider for the wider industry, offering compliance reporting, certification, and trading solutions. Customers are expected to include both early movers looking to monetise surplus reductions and operators struggling to keep pace with regulatory demands.
The strategy builds on Furetank’s history of anticipating regulatory shifts. The company notes that it ordered double-hulled tankers in the 1980s, years before the practice became mandatory. ‘There is always political uncertainty around regulations. It is convenient to just sit still, keep using conventional fuels, wait and see how the market develops. But we choose to do the opposite: we push for change, invest proactively, and go all the way as soon as we see indications that incentives are coming,’ Höglund said.
By linking renewable fuel supply with a market-based compliance system, Furetank is betting that FuelEU Maritime will accelerate uptake of alternative fuels while creating an economic case for decarbonisation across shipping.
