Christian Ingerslev and Lasse Kristoffersen, the heads of Maersk Tankers and Torvald Klaveness, are among a host of high profile names backing the World Economic Forum’s net zero path for shipping.
“The shipping industry must reach zero emissions by 2050, and to get there zero-emission ships must become the dominant and competitive choice by 2030,” signatories on the forum’s website state.
Other names to have backed the initiative include Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, executive vice president at A.P. Møller – Mærsk and Jose Maria Larocca, co-head of oil trading at Trafigura.
“A zero-emission fleet is only viable if zero-emission energy sources are competitive with traditional fuels, yet there is a competitiveness gap the market cannot solve by itself,” the statement reads, demanding the International Maritime Organization (IMO) press ahead with far more ambitious green goals. The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee is due to meet next month.
The signatories argue that the IMO must align international shipping with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by adopting a target of full decarbonisation of international shipping by 2050, as opposed to today’s goals which call for a 50% reduction compared to 2008 levels. The signatories have also weighed in on the need for a swiftly introduced carbon tax stating market-based measures are needed to set an adequate price on GHG emissions based on a full life cycle analysis of energy sources.
“The required price on GHG emissions from international shipping needed to reach 5% zero-emission fuels by 2030 can be significantly reduced if the generated revenue from a market-based measure is used to support the deployment at scale of zero-emission vessels and fuels. This would also help de-risk first movers and make investments in zero-emission vessels and fuel production possible,” the statement reads.
