{"id":33112,"date":"2024-04-22T13:13:42","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=33112"},"modified":"2024-04-22T13:13:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:13:51","slug":"green-shipping-picks-up-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/04\/22\/green-shipping-picks-up-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Green shipping picks up speed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TECHNOLOGY<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An international treaty aims to bring the shipping industry to net-zero emissions by around 2050. Can novel fuels, wind power and coordination on a global scale get it there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Elise Hansen<\/a>\u00a011.20.2023 (knowablemagazine.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lea en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, a cargo ship known as the Pyxis Ocean set sail \u2014 literally. The ship, about 750 feet long, had been outfitted with a pair of \u201csails\u201d made of steel and fiber-reinforced plastic to harness wind power on the long voyage from Shanghai to Paranagu\u00e1, Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Pyxis Ocean still uses its traditional engine but, along with careful routing decisions, its new sails will help to cut the amount of fuel burned on international voyages, says Simon Schofield, chief technology officer at BAR Technologies, the UK-based company that designed the sails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are harnessing the same elements as we did hundreds of years ago, we\u2019re just doing it in a more efficient way,\u201d Schofield says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schofield, a veteran engineer of elite yacht-racing competitions, helped to found BAR Technologies in 2016, in the hopes that insights from shipping\u2019s sexier cousin could be among the tools that help marine industries modernize to address climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shipping is a serious source of greenhouse gas emissions. Together, fishing and international and domestic shipping created over 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, which is close to 3 percent<\/a> of all human-driven emissions, according to the International Maritime Organization, the UN agency that oversees the safety and security of the shipping industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the voyages are the lifeblood of global trade: The UN Conference on Trade and Development estimated that in 2021, ships transported about 11 billion tons<\/a> of goods, representing over 80 percent of world trade. The Pyxis Ocean, as one example, was chartered for its sail-assisted voyage by the US agricultural giant Cargill; upon arriving in Brazil, the cargo ship picked up about 63,000 metric tons of soybean meal to transport to Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the industry doesn\u2019t change, emission numbers from shipping are likely to increase, says Benjamin Halpern, a marine ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. \u201cAll of the economic forecasts for global trade say that trade will continue to be more and more global,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s just more people buying more goods every year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph
The Pyxis Ocean voyaged to Brazil fitted with \u201csails\u201d designed by BAR Technologies to help the ship harness wind power.CREDIT: CARGILL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The International Maritime Organization, or IMO, has projected that shipping\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 could reach up to 130 percent<\/a> of their 2008 levels. Shipping could also start to affect new regions of the globe as the Arctic warms and sea ice<\/a> retreats, potentially opening up new shipping lanes, says Casey O\u2019Hara, a conservation data scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe status quo is not business as usual; it is going to be on an upward trend and potentially have impacts in some of the more untouched places in the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While shipping is only a small part of the whole picture affecting the world\u2019s oceans, reducing just some of the pressures on marine life<\/a> can help ecosystems be more resilient to other stressors, such as noise pollution, fishing<\/a> and coastal development, adds O\u2019Hara, who with Halpern authored a 2022 overview of the compounding pressures<\/a> on marine systems in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Graph
A 2020 greenhouse-gas study by the International Maritime Organization includes the shipping industry\u2019s projected emissions through 2050. The analysis considers three economic and fuel scenarios under two mathematical models: a logistic analysis and a gravity-model analysis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With all this at stake, the IMO\u2019s 175 member states recently voted unanimously <\/a>to adopt a more ambitious set of climate goals. These new goals, agreed upon in July 2023, would see countries strive for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by \u201cclose to\u201d 2050. Countries committed to trying to cut international shipping\u2019s annual emissions by at least 20 percent, compared to their 2008 levels, by 2030, and by at least 70 percent by 2040. Remaining emissions could be \u201cbalanced out\u201d with carbon removal or carbon sequestration projects, to complete the goal of net zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s \u201clight-years\u201d ahead of the IMO\u2019s previous, 2018 strategy, which aimed for only a 50 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, says Delaine McCullough, shipping emissions policy manager at the environmental advocacy group Ocean Conservancy. But, she adds, even this latest strategy could require larger emission cuts sooner, to guard against even temporarily overshooting key global warming benchmarks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can shipping reach the IMO\u2019s new targets? In the short run, a handful of technical and operational changes could make a big difference in cutting emissions, McCullough says. In June 2023, the research organization CE Delft, which focuses on sustainable energy and transportation, published a study suggesting that a combination of measures could, under certain conditions, cut emissions<\/a> by 28 percent to 47 percent. These would include slowing ships down so they would burn less fuel, adding wind power, and mixing in a small percentage of alternative fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But achieving the industry\u2019s loftiest goals will probably require a much bigger overhaul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph
At a July 2023 meeting of the International Maritime Organization, member states voted unanimously to adopt more ambitious climate goals for the international shipping industry.CREDIT: INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION \/ FLICKR<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the main changes will likely be widespread adoption of greener fuels, says Pernille Dahlgaard, chief officer of government, business and analytics at the M\u00e6rsk Mc-Kinney M\u00f8ller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, a research organization that works with the marine and energy industries. Many ships currently run on heavy fuel oil, a fossil fuel that is relatively inexpensive and widely available for refueling stops at ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two main alternative contenders so far are green methanol and e-ammonia, but neither fuel is ready for mass adoption yet, says Dahlgaard. Green methanol is difficult to procure in the quantities needed, and e-ammonia presents safety risks, she adds. Both options are more expensive than traditional fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The uncertainty around the fuel \u2014 or fuels \u2014 of the future is extra challenging in the shipping industry, because ships typically have a roughly 25-year lifespan, says Dahlgaard. \u201cThe vessels that come on water now, they will still be sailing in 2050,\u201d she says. \u201cSo when you\u2019re ordering a vessel today, you need to think about \u2026 your strategy for actually living up to that net zero in 2050.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of that, alternative fuels need to be available when compatible ships arrive. That requires technological investment in ships to synchronize with fuel development, as well as investments in ground transportation, infrastructure and port operations, says Jesse Fahnestock, decarbonization project director of the Global Maritime Forum, an international nonprofit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahnestock advocates for the creation of \u201cgreen shipping corridors\u201d: shipping lanes that support vessels that use alternative fuels. The corridors would require collaboration among a wide array of players, including ports, governments, fuel providers and ship owners. In that sense, the effort is much like a testing ground for a future global transformation of the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDecarbonizing everything at once is a huge challenge,\u201d Fahnestock says. Green corridors could provide a way to \u201cshrink that challenge down to size but still pursue it at a meaningful commercial, industrial scale,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But whether it\u2019s snazzy technologies or alternative fuels or green corridors, shipping decarbonization won\u2019t happen by the initiative of the private sector alone, most experts argue. It\u2019s a \u201ctrillion-dollar investment,\u201d as Dahlgaard puts it. National governments will likely need to craft new regulations as well as economic policies such as an emissions trading scheme or a carbon tax, says McCullough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can get two really solid, technical and market measures together, those can be really powerful in driving the industry,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenges are daunting, but for Fahnestock, the latest IMO strategy will at least help to chart the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a long-term strategy now,\u201d he says. \u201cNow we know that the journey to zero is going to go all the way to zero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story was updated on November 21, 2023, to correct the number of member states of the International Maritime Organization. There are 175 member states, not 187.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TECHNOLOGY An international treaty aims to bring the shipping industry to net-zero emissions by around 2050. Can novel fuels, wind power and coordination on a global scale get it there? By\u00a0Elise Hansen\u00a011.20.2023 (knowablemagazine.org) Support sound science and smart storiesHelp us make scientific knowledge accessible to allDonate today Lea en espa\u00f1ol… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33112"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33114,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33112\/revisions\/33114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}