Countries around the world are set to legislate to force the polluting shipping industry to switch to cleaner fuels. That’s one of the demands of the Green Shipping Challenge, an initiative that the United States and Norway are taking part in UN climate conference in Egypt have started.

More than 40 ports, companies and states have announced measures for this. They range from switching to low-emission or even zero-emission fuels to promoting less polluting ships. “We appreciate the leadership of the United States in keeping this issue high on the agenda,” said Faig Abbasov, responsible for sustainable maritime transport policy at Transport and Environment, a European clean transport campaign. “But for this challenge to become a reality, the US must seriously consider introducing national laws for international maritime traffic to create a clean technology market.”

About 80 percent of world trade is carried out by sea. Every day huge ships with cargo containers cross the oceans to deliver goods. At the same time, these ships emit a billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year.

The shipping sector is responsible for around three percent of global emissions. If it were a country, it would be among the top ten emitters of greenhouse gases.

“Shipping is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. It is therefore crucial that swift and decisive action is taken to reduce emissions from this sector and limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” says Jonas Gahr Store, Prime Minister of Norway.

Although the industry aims to be carbon neutral by 2050, progress has been slow so far. According to analyses, emissions could even increase by as much as 130 percent compared to 2008, and according to various “realistic long-term economic and energy scenarios”, it says.

Create a new market for green fuels

Part of the problem is the cost. The extremely polluting heavy fuel oil currently used by the industry is much cheaper than cleaner fuels such as green hydrogen or methanol, according to Abbasov. “The problem is that all of these fuels are very, very expensive,” Abbasov told DW. “Given that heavy oil is so cheap, the difference in price is immense. The question is: how to overcome that?”

A switch to zero-emission fuels would increase the overall cost of operating ships by around 40 to 60 percent, according to international management consultancy McKinsey.

So far, however, there is neither incentive nor pressure from consumers on companies to order new ships that run on the expensive but environmentally friendly fuels. Rather, there is concern that the competition could continue to use the cheap fuel. And so environmentally friendly fuels are not produced on a large scale in the first place.

“No one really cares about shipping company emissions, it’s as simple as that,” says Abbasov. He says governments should enact national laws to phase out fossil fuel shipments. In this way, the demand for environmentally friendly alternatives could be increased and the price argument invalidated, because “a level playing field” would then be created.

“If it’s regulated that way, the price doesn’t matter much, because everyone has to comply with the regulations and the costs for everyone increase at the same rate,” Abbasov said.

The European Union is currently negotiating legislation that will gradually limit the permitted emissions. The US Congress is also considering a bill to reduce emissions from the sector.

Shipping companies are taking steps towards decarbonization

The shipping industry is already taking some steps to become more environmentally friendly. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency that regulates shipping, said over the summer that it wants to update its climate strategy to see the sector go fossil-fuel free by 2050.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents 80 percent of the world’s merchant ships, has partnered with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to help decarbonize the sector.

Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company, aims to “become carbon neutral by 2040 with new technologies, new ships and new fuels” and has ordered 19 ships with dual-fuel engines that run on methanol.

With ships having a lifespan of 20 to 25 years, management consultants McKinsey say the industry must implement “comprehensive emission reduction programs over the next decade”.

As part of the “Green Shipping Challenge”, the shipping company Maersk also announced that it would work with Spain to explore the possibility of large-scale production of environmentally friendly fuels in the country.

By 2030, enough green fuel production facilities should be in operation to allow more shipping companies to commission the green vessels they need as they renew their fleets, Abbasov said.

“Some companies want to invest, but they will only invest if the playing field is right,” he added.

Adapted from the English by Anke Rasper