Esko Pettay
Sustainability manager
Meriaura
Finland
Slow pace of the green transition while greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing year after year has been frustrating and worrying. Most of the major emitters haven’t shown enough progress regarding climate change mitigation. Maritime industry and shipping have not been exceptions to this, and emission trends have not been compatible with targets set by climate science.
A lot of environmental regulation has been introduced for the maritime industry during the last decades but the biggest issue, greenhouse gas emissions, has not been properly regulated until now. It is justified to criticize the major international decision-making organizations for concentrating on smaller and less significant issues first. This is likely because small non-disruptive decisions have been politically much easier to agree upon. And naturally designing and ratifying globally binding regulation is no easy task.
The world is running out of time to tackle climate change, but encouragingly maritime industry is finally starting to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Emission trading and other regulation is starting to affect how much fossil fuels shipping can use and the yearly allowance will be constantly reduced.
International Maritime Organization IMO’s GHG Strategy now aims for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, striving for 30% in 2030 and then 70%, striving for 80%, in 2040 compared to 2008, and reach net-zero “by or around, i.e. close to, 2050”.
Emission reductions should have started decades ago, which would have made the task much easier, but since history can’t be changed this is where we are. The need for emission reductions is urgent and the goal is technically quite ambitious.
All stakeholders must work together towards the common goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Technically this goal can be reached as long as we don’t allow e.g. the oil producers to continue to water down our climate change mitigation efforts.
Upcoming regulation will ensure that alternatives to fossil fuels will become available and financially more competitive. So far fossil fuels have been superior to most alternatives both technically and financially.
Sustainable maritime future consists of myriad of solutions. Sustainable waste-based biofuels are limited in quantity but a great option in some regions. Synthetic fuels made e.g. from clean hydrogen and captured carbon has a lot of potential when availability of low emission electricity improves. It must be stated that is some countries, such as Finland, electricity is already low-emission and affordable. Battery-electric vessels are already viable on short regular routes and this technology keeps improving. Wind propulsion has a limited potential in modern operational environment but can provide significant savings in fuel consumption.
None of the above-mentioned solutions would be competitive against fossil fuels without regulation since the externalities of fossil fuels have not been priced in. If the full cost of the damages fossil fuels are causing would have been included in the price, oil and natural gas would have become uncompetitive already years ago.
We at Meriaura are aiming to be carbon neutral during the 2030’s, well before IMO’s goal. We believe this is possible due to a good head start we have thanks to our production and usage of nearly zero emission waste-based bio-oil. Meriaura has been able to reduce emissions also by improving energy efficiency and optimising schedules. Our energy efficiency will further improve, and the share of bio-oil will increase in 2026 when will we receive two new bio-oil capable vessels. But the progress will not stop there, and we are closely monitoring the development and availability of new synthetic fuels and other options. Our exact route to carbon neutrality is not fixed yet but we are sailing the right direction at full but environmentally sustainable speed.
We want to be able to show the world that environmentally sustainable shipping is possible and encourage decision-makers to ensure that the regulatory environment is in line with what climate science is telling us. It is also worth pointing out that green transition in maritime industry is a massive opportunity for Finland.