http://www.sailtransportnetwork.org/node/956
Shipping Emissions Must Be Tackled at COP21 with Advances such as Sail Power
by Jan Lundberg -- December 9, 2015
The UN Climate Conference in Paris (COP21) is well underway with
positive momentum to adopt a new climate change agreement. The draft
Paris agreement calls for parties to keep the global temperature well
below 2°C (or below 1.5°C if this language is chosen) above
pre-industrial levels. Each party shows how it will do its part by
submitting an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC); 186
parties are represented so far in INDCs. Unfortunately, though, the
INDCs fall short of getting us even to 2 °C.
Maritime shipping emissions must be part of the global solution. This
has been made clear in Paris with significant side events dedicated to
shipping. Maritime shipping is the most used means of transport around
the world. About 90% of all international exchanges go through maritime
shipping. In 2014, about 10 billion tons of cargo were moved by sea.
Yet the industry remains outdated and flat out dirty, in terms of its
dependency on fossil fuels and greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Shipping
emissions are projected to increase significantly in the coming decades,
between 50-250% to 2050, if business-as-usual does not change. (See the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) “Third IMO GHG Gas Study
2014.”) Thus, the industry’s current worldwide contribution of GHG at
about 2.2% will not stay this low for very long.
Section 20 of the draft Paris agreement would give the IMO continued
power to oversee GHG shipping emissions. The Kyoto Protocol also
deferred to the IMO for shipping. However, the IMO has thus far failed
to pursue significant climate change regulations for the shipping
sector. Shipping needs to adopt smarter and greener ways to carry cargo
across the world’s seas. It needs to transform from a fossil fuel sector
to a wind energy sector. If a signed Paris Agreement gives the IMO
responsibility of reducing GHGs in shipping, the IMO must make this happen.
“It is not acceptable that a sector [maritime shipping] is increasing
its emissions when all the world is fighting to reduce their emissions,”
said Niclas Svenningsen, of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), at a side event of COP21.
The industry has been late in transforming itself – energy wise. It has
been grasping at ‘low-hanging fruit’ to achieve small CO2 reductions.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) has distracted smart-thinking investors away
from renewables. Reducing ship-speeds reduces emissions, but this does
not result in fuel-use transformation. The shipping industry’s
conservative scenarios hold the unfounded assumption that affordable,
ample oil will be available for decades. But what is needed is strong
leadership to steer strategic, long-term thinkers away from dirty fuels
to clean technologies – especially wind.
It is important to realize that investment projects that happen in the
shipping sector today are going to stay with us for ten or twenty years
to come. A ship being built today will likely be in operation for the
next three decades. But how long can the status quo endure in a
fast-changing world, that has seen 2015 as the hottest year in human
memory? A levy on bunker fuels can help, but we need to demand the use
of the seas’ clean, abundant resource – the wind.
“Shipping needs to turn green,” said Sturla Henriksen, CEO of the
Norwegian Shipowners’ Association. There is no other choice now but to
embrace smart innovations and to reduce GHG in shipping. “There is no
Plan B. We have to reduce emissions,” said Niclas Svenningsen, UNFCCC.
So why is it that ship designs employing large-scale sail systems still
look futuristic?
Innovations in sail technology are actually further ahead than most of
the world realizes. The Ecoliner, a hybrid sailing cargo ship designed
by Dutch naval architects Dykstra, as part of the EU-funded SAIL
consortium project, offers massive energy efficiency gains under optimum
sailing conditions (not using the auxiliary engine).
B9 Shipping is developing a 100% renewably powered, commercially and
technically viable sailing hybrid cargo ship to be commercially viable
today and future-proofed for a 30-year lifespan. “The people who harness
‘free fuel’ will be the energy tycoons of the future,” said Diane Gilpin
of B9 and the Smart Green Shipping Alliance in Paris.”
Simultaneously, there is rapid growth in the use of traditional sailing
ships, with and without engines, moving high-quality, organic products
to growing niche markets. Significant global reductions in GHG emissions
will also happen with decreased trade volumes overall. This is
inevitable due to realities of climate protection and supply constraints
for easily extracted, lower-sulfur petroleum. Consumers need to begin to
understand their energy-demands and how much GHG their product-shipments
are emitting. At the Paris conference, projects promoting local-based
economies and decreased consumption are being praised as the sustainable
future.
COP21 in Paris is putting in place a regulatory framework to address
GHG emissions worldwide. SAIL MED proposed stronger language for the
shipping sector to include the use of renewable energy and specifically
sail technology in the new Agreement. (The suggested language is
available here.) This draft language has been shared with stakeholders
and policy makers at COP21, including several island nations as well as
Monaco. SAIL MED and Sail Transport Network have directly involved
states in considering sail power for their national climate strategies.
The suggested shipping-emissions language in the draft climate agreement
has also been widely Tweeted. (@sail_med).
A clear regulatory signal from Paris for COP21 can help drive
technological and transformational change in the shipping industry.
Although the Paris agreement will be non-binding on the parties, the
massive support and momentum it has generated can make countries feel
responsible and act smarter about GHG emissions and shipping. But it is
also up to consumers, producers, ship owners, local producers, port
states and flag states to demand that shipping cleans up its act and
sails forward on a responsible course of clean transport.
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