The UK shipping and maritime minister, Nus Ghani, highlighted the importance of the industry in achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, while opening the UK Chamber of Shipping and British Ports Association one-day conference on decarbonization last week.
During her keynote address she highlighted the importance of Maritime 2050 and the Clean Maritime Plan in working towards a cleaner, greener future.
What is more, Lord Deben, Chair of the Committee on Climate Change, gave an overview of how UK industry as a whole, will need to change to ensure it achieves its climate change targets. Lord Deben also spoke about the opportunities that a shift to clean growth will provide.
Conference organizer and UK Chamber of Shipping Policy Director Anna Ziou emphasized that
Tackling climate change and reducing emissions are a top priority for us and we were delighted to have industry leading figures give their views on the future of decarbonization.
The British Ports Association Head of Policy & External Affairs Mark Simmonds said that the levels of engagement and interest can come to show that decarbonization; the environment and climate change more widely now top the agenda for our industry, adding that
The scale of the challenge is clear, and I’m pleased that so many colleagues could join us to discuss how we overcome some of the barriers. These challenges for industry cannot be met without the support of Government and so it was great that officials and the Minister could join us too. The British Ports Association is looking forward to continuing this level of constructive engagement with UK shipping and Government over the course of this year and beyond.
Recently, Lloyd’s Register conducted a report for the UK’s Oil and gas Authority (OGA) in efforts to explore the country’s upstream opportunities to cut its GHG emissions, amid its announcement in becoming the first major economy to pass a net zero law for greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically, in May 2019 the UK became the first major economy to enforce a net zero law for GHG emissions.
LR’s study focused on three main scenarios:
- Cutting CO2 emissions of oil and gas operations with platform electrification.
- Reducing the environmental impact of the wider energy industry by using oil and gas infrastructure with carbon capture and storage technology.
- Exploring how the oil and gas sector could be part of the move to renewable energy by introducing: Hydrogen production facilities as well as North Sea power hubs, potentially including gas to wire opportunities for stranded hydrocarbon resources.