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Suppliers need to prepare for an end to fossil fuels, says ICS
THE shipping industry is on an inevitable trajectory towards a future of zero CO2 emissions and as a result there may no longer be significant demand for fossil fuels from shipping within as little as 25 years, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) said in a presentation given at Platts' Mediterranean marine bunker fuel conference in Athens.
"Governments need to recognise that many ships will remain dependent on fossil fuels probably at least until around 2050. But the momentum created by the Paris Agreement on climate change means that the wholesale switch to alternative fuels and propulsion systems will be relentless and inevitable, ICS director of policy Simon Bennett told delegates.
"This will happen as soon as the technology and bunkering infrastructure permits, which ICS is confident it eventually will, whether using fuel cells or batteries powered by renewable energy, technologies, such as hydrogen or some other solution we can't yet anticipate," Mr Bennett was quoted as saying in a report London's Tanker Operator.
Commenting on the development by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) of a comprehensive strategy for addressing CO2 emissions from shipping, scheduled for adoption in April 2018, Mr Bennett said that IMO had drawn up a list of possible short, medium and longer-term CO2 reduction measures for helping shipping to achieve this.
ICS said that the most challenging area in the ongoing IMO negotiations is agreement on the levels of ambition for CO2 reduction before zero CO2 fuels become widely available.
The shipping industry, including ICS, has proposed that IMO member states should agree that the initial goal should be to hold the entire shipping sector's total CO2 emissions below 2008 levels.
"This is actually very ambitious," Mr Bennett said, "It's the CO2 emissions from the rest of the world economy are predicted by the UN [United Nations] to continue increasing until the 2030s, even taking account of the commitments governments have made under the Paris agreement.
"But the industry has also proposed that IMO should agree upon a percentage by which the sector's total CO2 emissions should reduce by the middle of the century, for example in 2050."
If IMO is to succeed its strategy must also take account of the legitimate concerns of emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil about the potential impacts on global trade and their economic development, consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
"Fuel is already by far shipping's greatest cost and we already expect a truly massive increase in bunker costs as a result of the switch to low sulphur fuels required by the IMO global sulphur cap that comes into effect in January 2020," said Mr Bennett.
"Governments need to recognise that many ships will remain dependent on fossil fuels probably at least until around 2050. But the momentum created by the Paris Agreement on climate change means that the wholesale switch to alternative fuels and propulsion systems will be relentless and inevitable, ICS director of policy Simon Bennett told delegates.
"This will happen as soon as the technology and bunkering infrastructure permits, which ICS is confident it eventually will, whether using fuel cells or batteries powered by renewable energy, technologies, such as hydrogen or some other solution we can't yet anticipate," Mr Bennett was quoted as saying in a report London's Tanker Operator.
Commenting on the development by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) of a comprehensive strategy for addressing CO2 emissions from shipping, scheduled for adoption in April 2018, Mr Bennett said that IMO had drawn up a list of possible short, medium and longer-term CO2 reduction measures for helping shipping to achieve this.
ICS said that the most challenging area in the ongoing IMO negotiations is agreement on the levels of ambition for CO2 reduction before zero CO2 fuels become widely available.
The shipping industry, including ICS, has proposed that IMO member states should agree that the initial goal should be to hold the entire shipping sector's total CO2 emissions below 2008 levels.
"This is actually very ambitious," Mr Bennett said, "It's the CO2 emissions from the rest of the world economy are predicted by the UN [United Nations] to continue increasing until the 2030s, even taking account of the commitments governments have made under the Paris agreement.
"But the industry has also proposed that IMO should agree upon a percentage by which the sector's total CO2 emissions should reduce by the middle of the century, for example in 2050."
If IMO is to succeed its strategy must also take account of the legitimate concerns of emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil about the potential impacts on global trade and their economic development, consistent with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
"Fuel is already by far shipping's greatest cost and we already expect a truly massive increase in bunker costs as a result of the switch to low sulphur fuels required by the IMO global sulphur cap that comes into effect in January 2020," said Mr Bennett.
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