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Shipping and decarbonisation: where is the the truth?

With the new MEPC80 developments, institutional and marine market-related stakeholders may believe they have a fairly good idea of how shipping is coping with what is nothing less than its greatest collective challenge.

However, a true assessment of the progress being made can actually be truthful by seeking opinions from outside the shipping world.

First, a first negative element regarding the decarbonization effort implemented by shipping is related to the suffering of a credibility gap, where commitments and promises are dismissed as greenwashing or simply illusory, with little middle ground. Yet, the sector is full of zero-carbon commitments, coalitions, pilot projects, green corridors and studies, which track the sector’s alignment with the 1.5°C temperature increase target of the Paris Agreement.

Decarbonization commitments seem common, but actually how achievable are they? A partial answer that is obviously not positive can be found in the fact that only a small fraction of the several hundred shipping companies have joined the recent proliferation of zero-carbon coalitions and programs (in order to meet the common 1.5°C target signed into the Paris Agreement).

How many “LNG-ready” vessels will actually run on LNG? How many “LNG-ready” vessels will use methanol or commit to using green methanol but refueling with the classic, cheaper and dirtier fuel?

Obviously, these situations (and they are only a few), as well as also claims by industry players such as insurers, cargo owners, and shippers do not benefit the reputation of shipping, nor its ability to change it. In fact, as also reported in a recent report by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation and the Boston Consulting Group, the shipping industry will not meet the decarbonisation targets set by the IMO for 2030.

Communication and slogans increasingly related to green and a sustainable world are of course welcome within the shipping world, but communication must be subject to a principle of truth. But how uncomfortable is the truth especially in terms of decarbonization?

The goals have been set and only time will tell, but time is a commodity we barely have.

 

shipping market greenwashing communication pollution slothsea

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alberto.testino1996

alberto.testino1996

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