Overview of Shipping Companies’ Sustainable Ambitions
Target dates and technology focus for decarbonization of shipping companies
Summary - Four out of the five largest shipping companies have the ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050. These targets can be scrutinized due to lack of board level oversight or enforcement.
Most shipping companies focus on alternative fuels for combustion. Preferred fuels that are currently considered are (bio)LNG and methanol.
Shipping companies seem to have limited to no focus on electrification. Shore power is not emphasized by shipping companies, even though one can make important observations regarding shore power. CMA CGM claims to have 26% of their fleet equipped with shore power systems. COSCO appears to be investing heavily in shore power, most likely because of China’s investments in shore power infrastructure in the last decade. Maersk has even gone so far as to experiment with ‘offshore shore power’, where vessels can be powered near an offshore wind farm. All these developments are dwarfed by the investments made in non-fossil fuels for combustion.
This blog and the tool use publicly available information updated until late 2022.
Everyone appears to be in – on paper
The biggest four shipping companies in the world all adhere to the strict target of carbon neutrality by 2050. This is in-line with the 1.5o scenario and significantly more ambitious than IMO targets, which strives for at least 50% reduction by 2050. It is also in-line with the EU’s long-term goals, though the intermediate 2030 goals might pose difficulty. COSCO is the noticeable exception with a carbon neutral target for 2060, which is in-line with the Chinese goals of carbon neutrality as a nation. The targets are affirmed by several other organizations.
The Ocean & Climate Platform states that shipowners have pledged to comply with new standards as promoted by the Green Marine Europe Label. Almost all of them have set the objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Safety4Sea claims 12 of the 18 largest shipping companies have disclosed emission reduction targets. 50% of these are long term Scope 1 targets out to 2050.
All these targets need ongoing scrutiny however given the low reported board level oversight and claimed lack of immediate technology options to decarbonise.
Overview of shipping companies' current carbon neutral targets, shore power developments and current technology focus. Clear Scope 1, 2 or 3 definition remains unclear. A "-" means no information could be identified.
Everyone appears to be in the defining stage
Many shipping companies provide an abundance of graphically appealing information at surface level, but inconclusive and ambiguous at a deeper level, lacking the technical implementation details. It appears even the most ambitious companies are in the ‘defining and roadmap development stage’, awaiting technological developments in the realms of fuel such as methanol or ammonia. Though understandable, this results in limited real action in the short to medium term.
Furthermore, the apparent lack of significant shore power development programs – except for regions where it is already available or obliged – is surprising. A noteworthy exception is CMA CGM, who claims to have 26% of their fleet equipped with shore power systems. The main reason why this is noteworthy, is because of the ambitious targets set by the EU and US to make shore power mandatory by 2030 latest.
Despite the clear regulatory framework mandating shore power in the most important ports around the world, it seems developments for shore power will be hap-hazard and uncoordinated from a global shipping company level.
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