ShipZERO Workshop Delivers Strategies for True Zero in Shipping

[By: ZESTAs]

With the close of ZESTAs (Zero Emission Ship Technology Association) “Ship ZERO – Charging to True Zero” hybrid workshop came a call to action by one of the environment’s most affected:  Jimmy Nuake, Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Solomon Islands Government, said to the delegates “You are the people who can help us.  The technology is there, and finance is also available.  The only thing missing is policy.  We need to raise our voice at IMO to get framework and funding moving.”

Brent Perry, Chairman of ZESTAs and CEO of Shift Clean Energy polled the delegate body to learn if they felt policy makers were moving fast enough.  There was an overwhelming response that regulators needed to do more and faster.

The conclusion of the “Ship ZERO – Charging to True Zero” workshop, a side event at COP26 in Glasgow, brought to an end three days of intense discussion on strategies for enabling the maritime and port sectors to achieve true zero by 2050.  In the words of Bureau Veritas’ Nick Brown, “Shipping is the key to decarbonizing the world.  We need carrots and sticks to achieve zero emissions by 2050.”  Some of the carrots are based in financial opportunities

“Ship ZERO – Charging to True Zero” was a three-day workshop which included robust technical presentations from zero-emissions solutions providers, as well as finance, insurance, classification sectors and regulators. Speakers’ panels, audience Q&A, and brainstorming sessions followed each session to facilitate collaborative solution building, as well as giving stakeholders an opportunity to examine how solutions will fit with their individual business cases. The event took place well before COP26 transport day, which will give the team of researchers and stakeholders time to summarize the outcomes to be submitted to regulators beforehand. 

One of the many high points of the event was the announcement by Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede of his country’s intentions for: “…an immediate halt to all new oil and gas explorations and are putting all efforts into developing our green energy sources. We believe that Greenland can become an important partner for zero-emission shipping. We have huge untapped hydropower resources that exceed our domestic demand multiple times, which can generate cheap renewable electricity for e-fuels, and we have an infrastructure well suited for being early adapters."

Responding to questions about policy changes at IMO, the USCG’s Jeff Lantz told the delegates “IMO needs to put the sector on a path to zero emissions by revising the GHG strategy.  Initially done in 2018, the levels of ambition are now inadequate.  We are calling for ambition of zero emissions by 2050.  With this comes a need to incentivize near term measures, gain critical mass and send the signal that shipping is on a path to zero emissions.”  

As she brought the event to its finale, ZESTAs Secretary General Madadh MacLaine observed: “We have seen through this event that we have the technology for zero emissions shipping, and finance is poised to support of us. This is just the beginning of our Voyage to True Zero.

By harvesting and building on the wealth of knowledge and expertise shared in the last three days, we are going to submit a White Paper to influential ministers and policy makers at COP26 and publish a concrete Action Roadmap report, containing a Navigational Chart to True Zero.”