Companies agree cross-sector work to scale production of green hydrogen for shipping to 5.5M tonnes per year (mta) by 2030 and full decarbonisation of shipping by 2050 or earlier
Ten organisations have signed up to a joint initiative, put together at COP27 in Egypt, to adopt green hydrogen-based fuels in the shipping sector.
MAN Energy Solutions and AP Moller-Maersk are among the notable names of shipping companies joining others including the Aspen Shipping Decarbonisation Initiative, the Getting to Zero Coalition, the Green Hydrogen Catapult, the Green Hydrogen Organization, ACWA Power, CWP Global, Fortescue Future Industries and InterContinental Energy.
The Joint Statement on Green Hydrogen and Green Shipping, facilitated by the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and non-profit RMI, committed signees to no specific targets, instead the initiative sees participants promise to pursue "rapid and ambitious production and use of low-carbon fuels based on green hydrogen to accelerate decarbonisation of global shipping".
In the agreement, the signatories have agreed to pursue cross-sector collaboration to achieve commercially viable zero-emissions vessels operating on the deep seas by 2030 and to scale up production of green hydrogen to 5.5 mta by 2030 for use in shipping and fully decarbonise the shipping sector by 2050 at the latest.
The signatories called on international authorities and national governments to support private-sector commitments with "correspondingly ambitious policy". The joint statement specifically asks the International Maritime Organization and member states to commit to 100% emissions reduction by the maritime sector by 2050 and robust interim targets.
“This is a target we can reach. In fact, achieving existing targets set by Green Hydrogen Catapult members alone would be enough to supply nearly 90% of the green hydrogen needed by the shipping sector by 2030,” said RMI senior principal Oleksiy Tatarenko, who is also part of the secretariat of the Green Hydrogen Catapult, a coalition of green hydrogen producers and first movers committed to mobilising production and demand of the low-carbon energy source in this decade.
“To make it happen we need, among other things, to triple down on planning for green shipping corridors as fuels are supplied in specific places.”
MAN Energy Solutions chief executive Uwe Lauber characterised the maritime industry’s decarbonisation effort as "a mammoth undertaking, but I believe, eminently achieveable through co-operation with like-minded industry partners."
The Maritime Decarbonisation Conference Asia will be held 29 November 2022. Register your interest and access more information here
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.