Companies including Maersk, MAN ES, and the Getting to Zero Coalition have committed to launching green hydrogen and fuels produced from hydrogen for the maritime sector.
In line with their ambition to completely decarbonize the industry by 2050, signatories to the joint declaration committed to the long-term objective of delivering green hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels for the maritime industry at scale.
The largest green hydrogen producers and leading organisations across the shipping value-chain joined forces to issue a “Joint Statement on Green Hydrogen and Green Shipping” at a conference at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022. The agreement binds all signatories to a quick transition to green hydrogen-based fuels within this decade to completely decarbonize the maritime industry, which now contributes 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, by the year 2050. It also exhorts lawmakers to set goals just as lofty.
The Getting to Zero Coalition, which supports the shipping industry’s ambition, recognized the role of hydrogen and hydrogen-derived fuels in its pursuit of zero emissions deep sea vessels by 2030, and green hydrogen developers and producers pledged to work toward generating the 5.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen required by the shipping industry by 2030.
The commitment was signed by Maersk, Green Hydrogen Catapult, Getting to Zero Coalition, Intercontinental Energy, Acwa Power, Fortescue Future Industries, CWP Global, MAN Energy Solutions, Green Hydrogen Organisation and Aspen Shipping Decarbonization Initiative facilitator of Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV).
The signatories urged their counterparts in their respective industries to take action, including pledges from shipowners to invest in zero-emissions ships and technologies and pledges from ports to invest in infrastructure for bunkering zero-emissions fuels and to take part in green shipping corridors.
On the regulatory front, the partners urged the IMO to set a 2050 target for the shipping sector’s complete decarbonization, with firm targets in 2030 and 2040.
Our path ahead is clear: shipping must transition away from fossil fuels and toward scalable zero-emissions fuels.
Members of the Getting to Zero Coalition and other signatories to this joint statement stand firmly behind this goal and have already taken crucial first steps to make this happen. Commitments today show that there will be a sufficient supply of green fuels and demand for zero-emissions shipping.
Johannah Christensen, CEO of the Global Maritime Forum and a founding partner of the Getting to Zero Coalition
We are living in a climate emergency, and we need to rapidly accelerate the global availability of green fuels.
Access to green hydrogen is an important pathway to secure this important scale-up for the shipping industry as a whole and for us at A.P. Moller–Maersk to reach our 2040 net-zero target. Operating a large fleet of container vessels, we have made the choice to take an active part in shaping the solutions for the future together with partners. No one can do it alone.
Henriette H. Thygesen, CEO of Fleet and Strategic Brands at A.P. Moller–Maersk
