Existing Ships Will Swallow Up Shipping’s Emission Control Budget

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industrial port with containers
  • A shipping industry focused study showed how the existing ships are a caused of concern for emission controls
  • researchers stressed on the need of upgrading the global fleet and make it equipped to tackle emissions
  • New technology built ships wouldn’t help as the existing ships will eat up the emission control budget.
  • Various strategies like slowing speed, renewable rotors, and grid port electricity connection are suggested ways of the upgrading the global fleet

According to an article published in Manchester.ac.uk, a new climate research has stated that urgent action on emissions from existing ships is the key to tackling shipping’s impact on climate change.

What is it?

The shipping sector ‘can’t wait’ for new, low-carbon ships to enter its fleet if it is to cut CO2 emissions in line with Paris Agreement targets, according to a University of Manchester study published today in the new journal BMC Energy.

Research by Machester University published in this paper Bullock, S., Mason, J., Broderick, J., Larkin, A. Shipping and the Paris climate agreement:a focus on committed emissions. BMC Energy 2, 5 (2020) shows the pertaining concern areas.

Existing Ship Emissins the Concern Area

Measures to cut shipping’s pollution tend to focus on new ships, but this new Tyndall Centre research shows that

CO2 emissions from existing ships will dominate the sector’s impact on the climate, and could even swallow up shipping’s entire safe carbon budget.

  • The researchers’ findings suggest that existing ships could use up the industry’s carbon budget before new ships are taken into account.
  • Policies to cut shipping CO2 must focus attention on decarbonising and retrofitting existing ships, rather than just rely on new, more efficient ships to achieve the necessary carbon reductions.
  • As ships are so long-lived, the “committed emissions” from journeys travelled during the rest of their lifespan, are higher than for other modes of transport.
  • Without action, existing ships are expected to emit well over 100% of a Paris-compatible carbon budget.

How To Reduce Emissions

There is room for optimism however.

The research highlights the multiple ways that ships can cut their committed emissions, such as

  1. travelling at slower speeds,
  2. fitting new renewable rotor technologies,
  3. connecting to grid electricity while in port, and
  4. retrofitting other energy saving measures.

Innovative projects, such as the 2018 retrofit installation of two 30-metre-tall Norsepower Flettner rotor sails on the Maersk Pelican ship, can help to cut these committed emissions.

Keeping Time at Your Side

But scientists now say time is of the essence; if implemented quickly and at scale, the shipping sector could still fairly contribute to the Paris climate agreement goals, but if not, other sectors will need to cut their emissions deeper and faster to compensate.

Two 30m tall Norsepower rotor sails on Maersk Pelican tanker vessel
Professor Alice Larkin, Head of School of Engineering, The University of Manchester said: “The shipping industry continues to play a hugely important role in international trade and especially for our island nation, but this research highlights that the International Maritime Organisation’s current targets need to be substantially tightened to align with Paris goals.”

 

The Role of Existing Ships

The new research was led by climate scientists at the Tyndall Centre, Researcher James Mason said: “This research highlights the key role existing ships play in tackling the climate crisis. We must push for quick action for these ships, whether through speed reductions or other innovative solutions such as wind propulsion.”

To date, committed emissions studies have focussed predominantly on the power sector, or on global analyses in which shipping is a small element, with assumptions of asset lifetimes extrapolated from other transport modes.

This study analysed; new CO2, ship age and scrappage datasets covering the 11,000 ships included in the European Union’s new emissions monitoring scheme (EU MRV), to deliver original insights on the speed at which new and existing shipping infrastructure must be decarbonised.

Decarbonising Shipping

Climate Change Lecturer at The University of Manchester, Dr John Broderick said:

“Unlike in aviation, there are many different ways to decarbonise the shipping sector,

but there must be much greater attention paid to retrofitting the existing fleet, before it’s too late to deliver on the net-zero target.”

Tyndall Centre researcher Simon Bullock said: “Shipping is generally a greener way to transport freight than roads or planes, but its impact is still very large. This research shows there is hope – shipping’s overall emissions could be dramatically reduced, if policy-makers act to cut the emissions from the existing fleet”.

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Source: Manchester.ac.uk