American Bureau of Shipping’s (ABS) president and CEO, Christopher J. Wiernicki, highlighted the importance of the shipping industry’s part in the global clean energy transition in a series of appearances at the energy industry conference CERAWeek.
Christopher J. Wiernicki, told the annual gathering of ministers and CEOs from global energy and utilities, as well as automotive, manufacturing, policy and financial communities, that shipping was the vehicle for the transition, discussing the hydrogen value chain and evaluating alternative fuels as well as industry decarbonization challenges. He also emphasized that governments must make investments to provide scalability of options and enable commercial first movers.
The decarbonization of shipping is complex with unique challenges to navigate, let alone predict. It is a multi-dimensional lifecycle hybrid solution with numerous boundary conditions impacted by technology and infrastructure readiness timelines.
…said Wiernicki
The CEO then went on to point out that the shipping industry plays a dual part in decarbonization:
- Decarbonization of the industry’s own means
- The industry’s part in decarbonizing other areas of business by carrying the hydrogen molecule either as ammonia or other hydrogen carriers and shipping that will be carrying liquified CO2
As stated by the CEO, the main challenge in terms of realizing ambitious net zero commitments is the sheer gradient of the curve ahead. The pace of the development of hydrogen and carbon value chains is going to be key to managing that curve.
The shipping sector must first assess the figures supporting efforts to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in order to comprehend the scope of the issue. Ten times more renewable energy is needed to produce the 70% zero-carbon e-fuels than is now produced. Fuel that is 30% carbon-neutral will require 100 times more carbon capture than what we currently have.