Bunker Companies Join 150+ Global Industry Stakeholders Urging Full Decarbonisation of Shipping by 2050

Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization. Image Credit: Global Maritime Forum

Marine fuel players Bunker Holding and Probunkers today were among a 150+ strong group of global industry stakeholders who have asked governments to commit to decarbonizing the international shipping industry by 2050.

With IMO having pledged a 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050, the Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization says full decarbonisation by 2050 is achievable, and further want to make zero emission vessels and fuels the default choice by 2030.

In practice, the group says this would mean by 2030 at least five percent zero emission fuels in international shipping, as well as commercially viable zero emission vessels operating along deep-sea trade routes.

The necessary infrastructure for scalable zero emission fuels and energy sources, including production, distribution, storage, and bunkering, would also have to be in place.

The group has also called on governments to work alongside the private sector and support industrial scale zero emission shipping projects through national action "to de-risk first movers and accelerate innovation starting now."

This should involve the setting of clear decarbonisation targets for domestic shipping and providing incentives and support to first movers and the broader deployment of zero emissions fuels and vessels, it says.

"The signatories to this call to action firmly believe an urgent and equitable decarbonization of the maritime supply chain by 2050 is possible and necessary," the group says.

"The private sector is leading the way and taking concrete actions to make zero emission vessels and fuels the default choice by 2030, and decisive government action and enabling policy frameworks are needed now to reach our 2030 and 2050 ambitions."

The group itself includes a wide range of stakeholders including those with interests in shipping, chartering, finance, ports, and fuel production, with A.P. Moller-Maersk, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, GAC Group, Panama Canal Authority, Rio Tinto, Trafigura, Wärtsilä, Yara, and DNB Bank among the other signatories.

The Call to Action will be delivered to world Governments in November 2021, in advance of COP26.

If nothing else, the call marks a notable change in industry view from only a few years ago when the likes of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) said the alternative fuels to achieve IMO's decarbonisation goals would not be available "for at least another 20 or 30 years."

"While the technologies needed to build zero emission vessels and produce zero emission fuels and propulsion systems exist, they need to be further developed to ensure that they are safe, clean, and reliable," today's call to action says.