Multiple levers are available to meet the International Maritime Organization’s goal and keep shipping within its “GHG budget” to 2050.
Ship performance to reduce fuel consumption will save emissions and costs now and will anticipate the need to use new green fuels (when they become available) as efficiently as possible. See BV’s Decarbonization Trajectories report.
Shipping’s carbon footprint is significant across global supply chains. As receivers, shippers and traders step up their sustain- ability reporting, including scope 3 emissions, pressure will only increase on shipping. Requirements of banks and capital markets will be an additional incentive. This is an opportunity for those able to move first and opportunities exist.
Increasingly shipping will have to work with and influence other sectors and decision makers to create shared value to support a better, cleaner, more efficient shipping industry. New green fuels are a critical area for such a collaborative approach, but it will be some time before they are a significant lever.
The development of new approaches to global supply chains for all industries will be vital to for the scale of demand required and resilience in the face of trading practice, energy needs and new geopolitical realities. This will eventually rely heavily on the creation of new value chains, new trades and routes for seaborne energy transportation, carried as hydrogen or ammonia, in a new fleet of ships potentially transforming shipping’s role and image in global supply chains.
Shipping needs action for more efficient ships and longer-term collaborative action for new value and supply chains for green energy. An immediate opportunity is to focus on the existing fleet. Renewing the global fleet with vessels capable of burning new fuels will be a slow process and as well as the need for the fuels of the future, fleet renewal and rates of retrofit will be limited by shipyard availability and capacity. The world’s main shipyards are already fully booked until 2027 or even later. So, if we can’t “newbuild” our way out of the decarbonization challenge yet, we must manage
the tens of thousands of vessels that are currently at sea and new ships delivering today will operate into the 2040s and beyond. This calls for a greater focus on solutions that can help keep shipping within its “GHG budget” to 2050, which means improving the energy efficiency of the current fleet.
If we are to achieve the IMOs’ decarbonization goal and regional requirements such as those of the EU, we will have to reduce energy consumption by:
- voyage optimization and weather routing
- energy-saving devices
- new energy sources such as wind propulsion and shore power
- operational measures, including reducing speed and waiting times - use of currently available fuels – methane and biofuels
BV is taking action to help make the energy transition a success
by developing new partnerships and a fresh approach that covers entire supply chains. And this is where BV’s Future Shipping Team (FST) comes in. The Future Shipping Team was created to enable the sharing of research and expertise within the BV Group, both upstream and downstream of the maritime sector, including carbon capture, CO2 value chain, biofuels, hydrogen and methanol, for example.
With 240 people from across the BV Group, the FST is leading bringing together expertise from within and outside the maritime sector around 12 workstreams, ranging from new fuels and technologies to life-cycle assessment of renewable energy sources, traceability and evaluation of ESG progress. This has created an enhanced dialogue with new stakeholders such as financial institutions, charterers and energy suppliers.
As a testing, inspection and certification body, BV’s role is also to provide validation that will help build trust between stakeholders along supply chains. For example, playing a key role in fuel certification, using its independent expertise to validate the sustainability credentials of feedstocks and ensure that the fuel, be it biofuel
or e-fuel, is safe to use on board and is what it claims to be. The multi-fuel era will bring a greater focus on fuel quality and trace- ability going forward, and this is where our VeriFuel colleagues are playing a critical role in the FST. The same validation and traceability capabilities are also supporting the development of guidelines and a framework for a “book and claim” system. This will be key to breaking the “chicken and egg” dilemma and sending the right mar- ket signals to support the development of new production facilities. With sustainability reporting gaining prominence, BV is also sup- porting fuel producers in calculating greenhouse gas emissions, and once on board, works with shipowners in measuring the emissions impact of burning new fuels.
BV is also working with banks and investment funds to support their due diligence processes in assessing whether an asset is truly green or not.
These are just some of the areas where BV is focused - harnessing the power of the broader Bureau Veritas organization with 83,000 people, dedicated to being a preferred partner enabling customers to navigate technological and societal change to transform and perform sustainably.
* Marine Chief Executive, Bureau Veritas, Greece.