Shipping joins hand with producers to scale up green fuels

Organisations and initiatives across the shipping value chain, joined by some of the top producers of green hydrogen, have signed on to a joint statement at COP27, committing to the rapid adoption of green hydrogen-based fuels this decade.

The signatories have agreed to work on commercially viable zero-emissions vessels operating on the deep seas by 2030; scale up production of green hydrogen to 5.5m tons per year by 2030 for use in shipping; and complete decarbonisation of the shipping sector by 2050 at the latest.

The joint statement on “Green Hydrogen and Green Shipping,”  facilitated by the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and nonprofit RMI, was signed by representatives of the Aspen Shipping Decarbonization Initiative, the Getting to Zero Coalition, the Green Hydrogen Catapult, the Green Hydrogen Organization (GH2), ACWA Power, A.P. Moller – Maersk, CWP Global, Fortescue Future Industries, InterContinental Energy, and MAN Energy Solutions.

By bringing suppliers and consumers of green hydrogen into agreement about the urgency of the technology’s adoption in shipping, the joint statement aims to build confidence for the deployment of low-emissions fuel at scale to unlock cost reductions and reduce investment risk.

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 a 100% emissions reduction for the maritime sector by 2050 with interim targets to incentivise at least 5% zero-emission fuels use by 2030.