22 Sep Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization
We are doing our part. Shipping’s green transition is achievable, but we need governments and regulators establish policy frameworks that make zero emission shipping commercially viable, investable, equitable, and inclusive.
We support the Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization, which calls for decisive government action to enable the decarbonization of international shipping by 2050. We join industry leaders in calling for urgent action now.
The Call to Action was developed by a multi-stakeholder task force convened by the Getting to Zero Coalition with members from the entire maritime ecosystem including shipping, chartering, finance, ports, and fuel production.
Shipping must align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal and be run entirely on net-zero energy sources by 2050. The signatories to this call to action firmly believe an urgent and equitable decarbonization of the maritime supply chain by 2050 is possible and necessary. The private sector is leading the way and taking concrete actions to make zero emission vessels and fuels the default choice by 2030, and decisive government action and enabling policy frameworks are needed now to reach our 2030 and 2050 ambitions.
Shipping and the maritime ecosystem need to align our climate ambitions and actions with science1 and the Paris Agreement’s temperature goal. Countries representing more than 65 percent of global GHG emissions and more than 70 percent of the world economy2 as well as many companies have already committed to achieving carbon neutrality by or around mid-century.3 This creates a strong and growing imperative for all industries to decarbonize or face existential business risk.
Ships transport 80 percent of global trade and the maritime supply chain delivers the services needed to run our societies. Whilst this is done with the lowest carbon footprint of any mode of transport per ton transported, shipping still accounts for about three percent of global GHG emissions.
Raising our long-term climate ambition is not enough. Urgent action starting now is fundamental to achieving the transition to zero emission shipping by 2050.
We, the signatories, are already taking concrete actions to support the decarbonization of shipping and help us achieve our goals this decade and by 2050. This includes investing in RD&D and pilot projects, ordering and building zero emission ready vessels, buying zero emission shipping services, investing in the production of net-zero emission fuels, investing in port and bunkering infrastructure, assessing and disclosing the climate alignment of shipping related activities, and much more.
The private sector is leading the way. However, the decarbonization of shipping can only happen with the urgency and scale needed if national governments and international regulators establish policy frameworks that make zero emission shipping and fuel production commercially viable, investable, equitable, and inclusive.
We therefore call on governments to:
- Commit to decarbonizing international shipping by 2050
- Support industrial scale zero emission shipping projects through national action
- Deliver policy measures that will make zero emission shipping the default choice by 2030