Finland – Wärtsilä has signed the Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization project, which was launched in connection with the United Nations General Assembly.
It will be handed to world leaders ahead of COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which will be held this autumn in Glasgow, Scotland. The signatories encourage world leaders to connect shipping with the Paris Agreement temperature goal, as well as to fully decarbonize shipping by 2050 utilizing net-zero energy sources.
Companies and organizations spanning the entire maritime value chain, including shipping, cargo, energy, finance, ports, and infrastructure, have issued a call to action. They believe that a rapid and fair decarbonization of the maritime supply chain by 2050 is both feasible and required, with zero-emission shipping becoming the default option by 2030.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set a target of reducing GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. While this is an essential first step, Call to Action feels that a clear objective of running the marine sector totally on net-zero energy sources by 2050 should be established.
To accomplish this, the signatories think that by 2030, at least 5% of international shipping must use zero-emission fuels, with economically feasible zero-emission vessels operating along deep-sea trade routes. This will entail having the infrastructure in place for scalable zero-emission fuels and energy sources, such as distribution, storage, and bunkering facilities.
Wärtsilä and other private-sector enterprises are paving the way and taking actual steps to realize these goals. In order to meet the 2030 and 2050 targets, Call to Action believes that significant government initiatives and policy frameworks are urgently needed.
A multi-stakeholder taskforce organized by the Getting to Zero Coalition – a collaboration between the Global Maritime Forum, the World Economic Forum, and Friends of the Ocean Action – issued the Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization. In September of this year, Wärtsilä joined the “Getting to Zero Coalition.”
