Here’s How the Shipping Industry Is Becoming Greener

The shipping industry has access to a vast variety of renewable energy sources, so it can reduce its carbon footprint and cut its emissions, a positive outlook port authorities around the world are putting to the test.

About a dozen vessels, for example, are now equipped with “wind-assist” technology, that allows them to run on zero-emissions hydrogen fuel: hydrogen is made onboard thanks to large turbines that use the wind to generate electricity.

“This isn’t technology for the future,” says Gavin Allwright, secretary of the U.K.-based International Windship Association (IWSA). “This is something that’s happening now.” That number is expected to double in 2021, and again in 2022. Green hydrogen, hydrogen fuel cells, green ammonia, coatings, and air bubbles are also being developed as green alternatives to diesel and coal.

The shipping industry accounts for 3% of global emissions. The Ocean Conservancy and Pacific Environment published a report suggesting that given the right policies, those emissions could be drastically cut. In the United States, authorities want every port to eliminate emissions completely, not only from the ships but also the trucks, the trains, the cranes used on-site by 2035.