Making waves: Electric ships are sailing ahead
While the Yara Birkeland is smaller than some of the cargo ships entering circulation today, which are still fuelled by heavy oil and diesel, the growth in fully electric ships is picking up pace.
While the Yara Birkeland is smaller than some of the cargo ships entering circulation today, which are still fuelled by heavy oil and diesel, the growth in fully electric ships is picking up pace.
Ultimately, trying to free the ship, or even convert it to run on green fuels or the latest in sail technology is treating the superficial layers. Instead, we need to dig deeper (yuk yuk).
Clean shipping advocates plan to spotlight the sector’s emissions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which opens today in Bonn, Germany. Known as COP23, the gathering marks two years since the world agreed in Paris on a landmark climate accord — one that the Trump administration plans to abandon. The agreement, however, excluded pollution from international shipping and aviation in its targets to limit global warming. Officials had argued that those industries don’t easily fit into national or regional emissions schemes — and so they were left to regulate themselves.
How long it will take the food shipping industry to achieve zero emissions is uncertain, but it needs to happen sooner than later…Government would need to provide more incentives and institute more stringent regulations to speed up adoption of zero-emissions trucks.
The shipping industry needs to clean up its CO2 emissions now.
Maritime shipping emissions must be part of the global solution.