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A group of 22 countries pledged to create emission-free shipping
corridors in the coming years as an initial step to decarbonizing
maritime transportation, one of the hardest-to-abate
sectors.
The signatory countries of the Clydebank Declaration aim to
establish at least six seaborne trade lanes where vessels can
access zero-emission fuels on a pilot basis by 2025 before scaling
up to more and longer routes, or more ships in the same
corridors.
"It is our aspiration to see many more corridors in operation by
2030," they said 10 November in the declaration issued at
COP26.
The new coalition will complement the Zero-Emission Shipping
Mission (ZESM), launched by Denmark, Norway, and the US in July
to put the maritime sector on track to achieve net-zero emissions
by 2050.
The three countries have teamed up with Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, the Marshall Islands, Morocco, the Netherlands, New
Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the UK in the Clydebank
Declaration.
Some signatory countries hope that the green shipping lanes will
help achieve the ZESM's interim targets of putting at least 200
zero-emission vessels in operation, and having such ships account
for 5% of bunker fuel consumption in deep-sea trade globally,
before 2030.
These are seen by many as challenging tasks because the supply
chains for low-emission fuels are not yet developed at scale. The
first ships powered by ammonia and methanol for deep-sea trade are
only expected to hit the water in the next two to three years.
In a COP26 event, UK Minister for Maritime Robert Courts said
governments need to partner with private corporations to initiate
pilot projects now for the 2050 goal to be feasible.
"The Clydebank Declaration provides governments with the
framework to encourage the establishment of zero-emission shipping
routes between their ports," Courts said. "The declaration is the
starting pistol for the industry to invest in research and to
develop these [decarbonization] technologies with confidence."
Benny Engelbrecht, transport minister of Denmark, said the
signatories' eventual aim is to make zero-emission vessels the
default choice for fleet renewal.
"To move forward.… We need to launch [and scale up]
demonstration projects that show policymakers and the industry that
zero-emission shipping is actually possible," Engelbrecht
added.
Foundation for success
The Getting to Zero Coalition, formed by more than 150 banks,
shipowners, commodities firms, and fuel suppliers, suggested policy
support and access to low-emission fuels are required to create
green corridors.
Its study published 10 November by the coalition highlighted the
potential of two zero-emission shipping lanes: the Australia-Japan
iron ore route, with 29 GW of hydrogen electrolyzer capacity
planned in Australia by 2030; the Asia-Europe container route, with
33 GW of electrolyzer capacity set to be on tap in Europe and the
Middle East by 2030.
Global Maritime Forum CEO Johannah Christensen, whose
organization contributed to the study, said stakeholders in the
public and private sectors should not be overly concerned with
economies of scale in the initial phase.
"Coordination can be made easier by the green corridor approach.
Corridors are big enough to develop supply and demand at scale, but
small enough to allow policies and business models to be tailored
to specific conditions," Christensen said.
Zero-emission bunker fuels will still be 25%-65% more expensive
than oil-based fuels in the first green corridors, said Faustine
Delasalle, a co-executive director of the World Economic
Forum-backed Mission Possible Partnership.
"Targeted government action to close that cost gap on corridors
could pay big dividends for the transition overall," added
Delasalle. The partnership also contributed to the study.
Tristan Smith, reader in shipping at UCL Energy Institute, said
governments will need to pump "hundreds of millions of pounds" into
the pilot projects before the cost of low-carbon fuels start to
fall.
"These early demonstrations are going to need serious government
support … We're talking about finding a way to getting
international shipping routes to use a fuel that's significantly
more expensive," Smith told Net-Zero Business Daily.
"There's going to really need to be some government cash put on
the table, not necessarily fully subsidizing, but working in a very
clever public-private partnership," he added.
UN High-Level Climate Champions' Shipping Lead Katharine Palmer
said governments will first have to identify which shipowners,
cargo owners, and bunker suppliers to work with in the green trade
lanes.
"This can't be done by countries alone. The industry has a
significant role realizing these commitments … they can help
support and enable the ecosystem," Palmer said.
Varied perspectives
Some in the shipping industry welcomed the Clydebank
Declaration, saying the initiative could finally kickstart the
development of low-carbon bunker supply chains.
"We are so happy to see this green corridor because it provides
a platform where everyone can lean in as operators and actually
collaborate with others," said Morten Bo Christiansen, head of
decarbonization at Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk.
Lars Robert Pedersen, deputy secretary general of trade group
BIMCO, said the signatory countries will probably cooperate to
facilitate specific trades where some ships can operate on green
fuels.
"It seems that this is a kind of sandbox type of arrangement
aimed to trial commercial arrangements which can later be scaled to
global reach, which could hold good potential," Pedersen said.
Lloyd's Register CEO Nick Brown expects the initiative to help
find the best locations to build the first land-based refueling
facilities for zero-carbon fuels.
"Green corridors are essential to support first mover viability.
They help avoid the chicken-and-egg situation of ships arriving
before the fuel is ready in the right quantities and locations,"
Brown said.
But some environmentalist groups said the declaration is short
on strong, concrete decarbonization targets and does not align with
the Paris Agreement's climate goal.
"It is very scant on concrete action, [and] there is no official
or binding commitment," said Jacob Armstrong, sustainable shipping
officer at Transport & Environment. "Shipping needs concrete
roadmaps to decarbonize, not more aspirational goals ... The
problem is rather a lack of clarity on what 'green' corridors mean,
lack of governance, and no enforcement [mechanism]."
To limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial levels, UN scientists said annual GHG
emissions need to be reduced by 45-50% in the next eight years.
"While we welcome anything that helps move us towards a
decarbonized shipping industry, this declaration is not the kind of
major development that we are looking for," Seas at Risk Senior
Policy Advisor John Maggs said.
"Even if this resulted in 5% of zero-emission fuels [in the
bunker mix] in 2030, it would still be a million miles away from
what is needed for shipping to play its fair part," he added.
Policy discussions
UN member states generally prefer to hammer out detailed
emission rules for shipping at the International Maritime
Organization (IMO) rather than COP talks.
In 2018, the specialized agency set a target to halve GHG
emissions from international shipping by the middle of the century
relative to 2008 levels. This goal is scheduled to be reviewed by
2023.
There have been growing calls from industry
participants—including the International Chamber of
Shipping—to raise the target to net-zero emissions before
2050.
During the IMO's 77th Marine Environment Protection Committee
meeting 22-26 November, a joint proposal from the
Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands to cut shipping emissions
to absolute zero by 2050 will be discussed. Costa Rica, Japan,
Norway, the UK, and the US will propose a net-zero alternative.
"One of the most important tools that the world has in this
moment is the International Maritime Organization. But in the
context of the climate crisis, its current level of climate
ambition must go further," US Secretary of Transportation Pete
Buttigieg said during COP26 10 November.
Posted 10 November 2021 by Max Tingyao Lin, Principal Journalist, Climate and Sustainability