Green lanes

With zero emission fuels and vessels required to achieve significant decarbonisation by 2050, developing so-called green corridors can help speed up the transition to zero emission shipping, something that is now very much in focus following November’s big shipping announcement at COP26, the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, where 22 nations signed on to support these new cleaner shipping routes.

Signatories to the Clydebank Declaration have agreed to work together to support the establishment of green shipping corridors, defined as zero-emission maritime routes, between two or more port pairs.

Madeline Rose, climate campaign director, Pacific Environment, said: “Just like cars and trucks, ships will need new charging stations in a zero-emission future at the ports they frequent all around the world. We thank the United Kingdom for leading this clean shipping initiative and commend all first-mover nations, but warn the Clydebank framework leaves room for delay tactics and fossil fuel loopholes. We urge partner countries and ports to act quickly to set immediate, interim and ultimately mandatory

benchmarks to phase out all fossil fuel ship pollution along their shared corridors.”

Commenting on the big news from Glasgow, Nick Brown, CEO of British classification society Lloyd’s Register, said: “Highlighting major port hubs and specific trade routes enables a full understanding of where the first land-based infrastructure investments in the production of new fuels could have the biggest initial impact. Green corridors are essential to support first mover viability.”

A new study produced for the Getting to Zero Coalition, a partnership between the Global Maritime Forum, Friends of Ocean Action and World Economic Forum, looked at how green corridors – specific trade routes between major port hubs where zero emission solutions are demonstrated and supported – can be conceived, prioritised, and designed to accelerate the speed of shipping’s transition.

It found that green corridors can leverage favourable conditions for accelerated action as they allow policy makers to create an enabling ecosystem with targeted regulatory measures, financial incentives, and safety regulations. In addition, it established that they can also put conditions in place to mobilise demand for green shipping on specific routes and help to catalyse accelerated decarbonisation by creating spillover effects that will reduce shipping emissions on other corridors.

The research looked at three corridors: the Australia-Japan iron ore route, the Asia-Europe container route, and the Korea-Japan-US PCC corridor. The case studies were developed in collaboration with more than 30 companies from across the value chain, many of which are active on the routes in question. According to the findings, when applied to both routes, the green corridor concept provides sufficient scale for impact as well as the necessary specificity – across fuel pathway, cargo, policy-making environment, and vessel type – to enable a feasible, accelerated decarbonisation roadmap for the shipping industry.

Techno-economic analysis suggested that green ammonia is a likely fuel choice for the AustraliaJapan iron ore corridor, with bunkering in North West Australia for the initial zero emission vessels. The Asia-Europe container route currently generates more greenhouse gas emissions than any other single global trading route. Green methanol and green ammonia are the two zero emission fuels likely to be deployed here.

“Green corridors can help simplify the challenges of zero-emission shipping, bringing solutions to the water faster and at a meaningful scale. The maritime ecosystem is embarking on a journey to a transformed, zero emission shipping sector. The task ahead is complex, but not impossible,” said Johannah Christensen, CEO of the Global Maritime Forum.

“Green corridors will enable us to go from ambition to action. However, there will still be a cost gap between fossil-based shipping and zero-emission shipping of the order of 25% to 65%. Targeted government action to close that cost gap on corridors could pay big dividends for the transition overall,” said Faustine Delasalle, co-executive director, Mission Possible Partnership.

The study concluded that for all green corridors, the success factors are likely to be similar: corridor-level consensus on fuel pathways, policy support to help close the cost gap for higher cost zero emission fuels, and value chain initiatives to pool demand. ●

Catrien Scheers

p.37

Felipe Simian

p.26

Peter Georgiopoulos

p.33