Global Maritime Forum reveals decarbonisation potential

The Global Maritime Forum has revealed the economic potential presented by the decarbonisation of shipping in new analysis conducted by Arup.

The analysis, titled Green Jobs and Maritime Decarbonisation, focuses on renewable energy and fuel production linked to e-fuels, adopting a scenario where e-fuels become the energy source for international shipping. In this scenario, up to £3.2 trillion of investment is required to support the development of renewable infrastructure, hydrogen production, and fuel production facilities for e-ammonia for shipping.

The study projects the maritime sector’s transition to e-fuels could support up to four million new green jobs by 2050, double the number of seafarers serving globally today. Providing shipping decarbonisation keeps track with the IMO’s ‘striving indicative checkpoints’, the new data provides an outline of the growth of green jobs from the 2020s through the 2040s.

The shipping industry is currently responsible for 3% of global CO2 emissions, equivalent to the annual emissions of Japan, but is responsible for 80% of global trade. In 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s member states agreed an end date to fossil fuel consumption “by or around” 2050. 

Achieving this target will require large volumes of scalable zero emission fuels, a significant share of which will be e-fuels based on hydrogen. Projections show that shipping’s demand for e-fuels could rapidly scale to over 500 million tonnes by 2040, rising to 600 million tonnes by 2050. Meeting such demand could require an additional 2TW of renewable energy generation capacity, and 1TW of hydrogen production capacity by 2050.

Jesse Fahnestock, Director of Decarbonisation, at Global Maritime Forum, said:

“This research marks a critical first step in exploring the fundamental role maritime decarbonisation will play in the creation of green jobs within the energy sector. The analysis demonstrates the sheer scale of the potential to create large numbers of highly-skilled green jobs, in this instance driven by a single fuel. Many of these jobs will also be transferable to other sectors – supporting further decarbonisation beyond shipping.” 

Jeremy Anderson, Director of Just Transition and Sustainable Transport at International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), said:

“The creation of new green jobs can help address economic inequalities between the Global North and Global South. However, green jobs must also be good jobs, with decent working conditions, labour rights, and a strong voice for workers.”

Connor Bingham, Project Manager at Global Maritime Forum and author of Green Jobs and Maritime Decarbonisation, said:

“The huge levels of investment will impact all corners of the globe, helping many countries around the world provide opportunities to workers negatively affected by the transition away from more carbon-intensive industries.

“It’s vital that we further explore the different geographic implications, particularly in the Global South, to ensure we can unlock the enormous potential for economic growth across nations.”

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