The maritime sector is one of the trickiest transport modes to decarbonise”. These are the words of Matthew Moss, Innovate UK KTN’s Maritime Lead. Last year, the UK GOV stated, ‘we need Urgent action today – the average lifespan of vessels means that greener ships must be deployed by 2025 to achieve a zero-emission fleet by 2050. It’s vital that every sector plays its part to remain in line with the Paris Agreement.’
Closer to home – Thetius:Zero (TZ) started on the 13th of March. TZ is one of our new exciting instruments for change. Generating collaboration, facilitating innovation and causing actualisation of real world working solutions is the idea. The aim is to take critical shorter-term challenges faced by leading organisations within the maritime industry and identify innovative solutions to reduce GHG emissions.
Back in January – The Port of Leith became the first large mainland commercial port in Scotland to provide a shore power connection. With Forth Ports’ electricity being provided through non-fossil fuel generation, this is a significant step forward on the journey to net zero for the port.
Elsewhere in the UK – The Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) established in the middle of 2022 because of the previous success of the £23 million Clean Maritime Plan in 2020. Part of the packages offered by UK SHORE – is the Zero Emission Vessels and Infrastructure (ZEVI) competition announced a few weeks ago. It makes up three of the four current competitions for Marine Transport from the Department for Transport (DfT). For those eligible, the ZEVI Competition closes: Wednesday 19 April 2023 11:00am.
Further afield – On March 9th The Aspen Institute, Amazon, Patagonia, and Tchibo Launched the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) to speed up Maritime Shipping Decarbonisation. On March 10th, XTC announced the Marine Tech Startup Innovation Challenge Finalists.
ZEVI, ZEMBA, XTC and Thetius:ZERO are catalysts for the maritime industry’s clean energy future.
