When the diesel-powered MS Selandia set sail on her maiden voyage in February 1912, people were so astonished by the sight of an ocean liner that didn’t spew steam they named it the “phantom ship.” With that first trip from Copenhagen to Bangkok, the ship proved a largely untested technology was cheaper, cleaner and more efficient than coal, to the point that it rendered steamships obsolete within a few years.
“There was no international organization or regulation,” says Faig Abbasov, director of shipping at Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based nonprofit. “It was just one shipping company that decided to try it because it didn’t want to rely on coal and everybody else just followed. The shipping industry has this interesting characteristic — it follows the trend.”
History shows the industry, which could be responsible for about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, can change quickly when it wants to. Though it has so far delayed efforts to reduce its environmental footprint, green policy momentum in key jurisdictions and the rise of renewable power could herald another tipping point — if advances in new technologies like hydrogen provide a cheaper and better alternative.
Hard to Abate
Shipping makes up 12% of global transport energy consumption
Source: IRENA, IEA
At the moment, more than 50,000 ships hauling 90% of the world’s cargo emit as much carbon dioxide as Germany, the world’s sixth-largest polluter. The industry doesn’t pay taxes on fuel or carbon pollution in many countries and most shipping emissions go uncounted because nations don’t take ownership of them.
The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization has also been slow to act. In 2018, it set a target for halving emissions by 2050, with specific rules aimed at cutting emissions 40% by 2030 expected to be approved in talks this week. The draft has been criticized by NGOs as insufficient: “Whatever they’re going to implement is not worth the paper it’s written on,” Abbasov says.