INSIDE WASHINGTON

House Panel Gets to Grips with Decarbonization

The House Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a hearing April 15 that put the issue of shipping decarbonization under the congressional spotlight.

That should be a warning signal to anyone in the U.S. maritime industry who still thinks this is an issue for only deep-sea operators to worry about. The lesson from history is that when legislators start to talk about something, then their next step will likely be to legislate on it.

Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) made that clear in his opening remarks.

“The Biden administration is prioritizing emissions reduction across transportation sectors, and international agreements are setting targets for maritime carbon emissions reduction by 2050,” he said. “But now is not the time for us to take the back seat; Congress needs to implement strong and progressive measures to reach the goal of a fully decarbonized maritime industry.”

“There are many steps we can take to support this vital work,” he continued. “For instance, we can increase grant funding for ports looking to add shore-side power hookups for vessels to run on electricity, to purchase electric cargo handling equipment, and to construct microgrids that integrate clean energy sources such as offshore wind.”

“Maritime carbon emissions must be eliminated if we are to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change,” said Chair of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.). “While the challenge can seem daunting, we must recognize and capitalize on the opportunity for American industry to innovate and lead the pack. If we develop new forms of energy generation, we can create jobs for American workers.” The subcommittee heard testimony from five expert witnesses: John Butler, president and CEO, World Shipping Council; Kristin Decas, CEO and port director, Port of Hueneme, Calif.; Dr. Lee Kindberg director of environment and sustainability, North America, Maersk; and Morgan Fanberg, PE, president, Glosten.

IMO GOALS

Much of the expert testimony covered areas that will be more than familiar to most of the Marine Log audience. For example, the World Shipping Council’s John But ler brought the audience up to speed on the GHG reduction goals adapted by IMO in 2018: a 40% increase in overall fleet efficiency by 2030 and a 50% reduction in absolute emissions by 2050 (versus a 2008 baseline), with emissions to be reduced to zero or near zero as soon as possible after 2050.

“While the IMO’s 2030 GHG goal can be met by operational and design modifications applicable to a fleet that remains fossil-fuel based,” said Butler, “the 2050 reduction goal, and the move thereafter to a zero or near-zero GHG emission status for ocean shipping, cannot be met by an industry that uses fossil fuels as its propulsion base.”

KERRY MOVES THE GOAL POSTS

In fact, the IMO goal could well get even more ambitious. Since the April 15 hearing, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has announced that “the United States is committing to work with countries in the International Maritime Organization to adopt a goal of achieving zero emissions from international shipping by 2050, and to adopt ambitious measures that will place the sector on a pathway to achieve this goal.”

In his testimony, Butler described one of the “ambitious measures” up for consideration at IMO: a proposal for a $5-6 billion industry-funded research and development (R&D) effort over a 10- to 12-year period to identify the fuels and related technologies of the future that will be needed to meet IMO’s decarbonization goals. The shipping industry would fund this R&D effort through mandatory contributions via a proposed per ton levy on GHG emissions.

Dan Rutherford, Ph.D., program director, Marine and Aviation International Council on Clean Transportation, told the hearing that to meet even the current IMO goal of a 50% reduction in absolute emissions by 2050, “we’ll need zero-emission deep-sea ships on the water by no later than 2030. Key technologies include battery electric ships for near-port operations and short sea shipping; hydrogen, which in pressured or cryogenic form can power fuel cells that are already available and scalable; and ammonia, which is gaining attention as an easy-to-store hydrogen carrier. These fuels can be generated from abundant renewable electricity with a negligible climate footprint.”

Actions the U.S. government should take to support the zeroemission vessels transition, said Rutherford, include, first “substantial investments to develop and deploy zero-emission vessels and fuels, along with supporting port electrification and infrastructure.”

JONES ACT VESSEL ROLE

U.S. flagged Jones Act vessels, which operate shorter routes between regular ports, he said, “can be used to demonstrate and mature the technologies we’ll need for deep sea zero emissions vessels.”

Glosten’s Morgan Fanberg underscored that meeting carbon reduction goals requires an aggressive shift from burning fossil fuels to low or zero-carbon fuels and the electrification of certain short-run vessels.

“Today,” he said, “these non-fossil fuels do not exist at commercial scale, port infrastructure cannot handle future demands, and regulations applying to these future technologies do not exist.”