At the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, global industry leaders have committed to increasing the uptake of zero or near-zero GHG emission shipping fuels to at least 5%, striving for 10%, by 2030.
As informed, more than 50 leaders across the spectrum of the shipping value chain — e-fuel producers, vessel and cargo owners, ports, and equipment manufacturers — have signed a Call to Action today to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission fuels.
Organized by RMI, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, the UCL Energy Institute, and the United Nations Foundation, the Call to Action is said to demonstrate “strong industry momentum to invest in decarbonisation through scalable zero-emission fuel pathways” .
The joint statement calls for “faster and bolder” action to increase zero and near-zero emissions fuel uptake, investment in zero-emissions vessels, and global development of green hydrogen infrastructure, leaving no country behind.
“We are proud to be part of this initiative dedicated to expand the production of green hydrogen as a marine fuel or as an enabler for synthetic zero to near-zero carbon fuels. One of the biggest tasks ahead of us is developing a robust and reliable green hydrogen supply chain to deliver zero carbon fuels to vessels in key maritime hubs in ways that are safe, sustainable and that benefit all shipping stakeholders, particularly seafarers and port communities,” James Forsdyke , Managing Director of the Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub, commented.
The Call to Action comes as the maritime industry awaits the Marine Environment Protection Committee’s (MEPC) milestone convening in April 2025, where global regulatory architecture will be set for a global fuel standard and a greenhouse gas pricing mechanism to achieve the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Revised 2023 GHG Strategy’s ambition of achieving net-zero emissions in the maritime sector by 2050.
Close collaboration between green hydrogen producers, shipping actors, and policymakers is said to be vital to securing the enabling conditions and investments that will deliver shipping’s clean energy transition.
“The Green Hydrogen Catapult is proud to support this initiative. Collaboration across the maritime value chain is key to an accelerated, just, and equitable transition of the sector to renewable fuels, and partnerships are key to building and maintaining momentum,” Oleksiy Tatarenko , the leader of RMI’s hydrogen initiatives and the Green Hydrogen Catapult, a coalition of green hydrogen market leaders promoting the aggressive global adoption of green hydrogen, pointed out.
Ports and port service companies, alongside financiers, have also added their support to the Call to Action, committing to investing in hydrogen-derived fuel infrastructure and safety projects to support bunkering of e-fuels.