Collab 20: Innovations in Greenhouse Gas Reductions in East and Southeast Asia’s Maritime Sector
PUBLICATION DATE:
Wednesday, February 02, 2022
PUBLICATION TYPE:
Meeting Documents
STATUS:
Only Available Online
DESCRIPTION:
Over the last decade, maritime transportation has grown to almost 90 percent global oversea trading logistics and correspondingly produces 3%-5% of the total global GHG emission. Sixty percent of this total trade volume passes through the seas and ports of Asia.
According to the Fourth GHG Study of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), GHG emissions of total shipping have increased from 977 million tonnes in 2012 to 1,076 million tonnes in 2018 (9.6 percent increase) mostly due to a continuous increase of global maritime trade. The Study projects that shipping emissions could increase to 90-130 percent of 2008 emissions by 2050, pointing out that it will be difficult to achieve IMO’s 2050 GHG reduction ambition (i.e., reduce the total annual GHG emissions from shipping by at least 50 percent) through energy-saving technologies and approaches alone (e.g., slow steaming and Just in Time arrivals, among others). Under all projected scenarios, by 2050 a large share of the total amount of CO2 reduction will have to come from the use of low-carbon/zero-carbon alternative fuels.
A shift to low-carbon/zero-carbon fuels and energy sources is not solely a shipping issue, but one that cuts across the maritime transportation, fuel, and energy systems, requiring collaborative efforts to address all the subsystems in an integrated manner encompassing, among others, ships, ports, hinterland transport, cargo handling and logistics, low- carbon fuel sources and distribution, renewable energy supply, IT/communication and information-sharing, and so on.
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