Think-tank Forum for the Future recently published its “Vision for 2040”, a new roadmap designed to reduce the shipping industry’s carbon intensity through to 2040. Key points of the document, part of its Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI), will be the development of energy-efficient vessels, a greater use of renewable energy and design ships that can be reused or recycled.
The document is signed by 15 signatories and endorsements include some of shipping’s biggest operators such as Maersk Line, Rio Tinto, BP Shipping and Wärtsilä. They have agreed to communicate the work they are carrying out to curb their environmental impacts and via a biannual reporting process, open it up to SSI scrutiny.
Shipping-related emissions currently make up around 3% of global carbon emissions, but are forecast to climb to rise by 150-250% over the next 40 years. “The anticipated, radical changes in the external operating environment indicate an urgent need to reshape the way in which shipping business is conducted, ” the report says. “Our vision sets out our aspirations for 2040. But we cannot wait until 2040 to become sustainable; we need to act today.”
The Committee on Climate Change is expected to publish its long-awaited review of UK shipping emissions.
Emissions roadmap for the shipping industry
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