UK shipping decarbonisation off track alignment with Paris Agreement - committee

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has advised the UK government to step up its efforts on shipping decarbonisation as CO2 emissions have increased.

PHOTO: Getty Images

Even if the UK government has been devising new climate policies, these policies are not ambitious enough, CCC says in a new yearly report.

The committee argues that shipping emissions in the UK have come down too slowly in recent years. "They were 12.2 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2022, up 1% from 2021," CCC's report states.

At this rate, CCC believes that the UK will fail to fulfill the climate targets set in the Paris Agreement in 2015 to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The UK is set to deliver its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2030 under the Paris Agreement, and the government has said that it has "quantified emissions savings to deliver 88 megatonnes or 92% of the NDC."

However, CCC states points out that "while announcements in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan (CBDP) report is an important step towards delivering emissions reductions this decade, gaps remain in meeting the 2030 NDC."

The UK government’s CBDP pathway requires emissions from domestic shipping and the UK’s share of international shipping to fall by around 22% by 2035 from 2019 levels, the committee said.

The report outlines different policies and operational efficiencies that can help the UK in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from domestic shipping and its share of global shipping emissions by around 22%.

CCC suggests the following two measures should be adopted:

• Carbon intensity reductions by using alternative fuels like ammonia, methanol and hydrogen, through modifying vessel designs etc.
• Fuel efficiency gains through slow steaming, wind assistance, transitional fuels, integration with hydrogen supply etc.

CCC has further claimed that the UK and its shipping sector lacks the credibility and urgency needed to tackle climate change. Its efforts to decarbonise are alarmingly slow and there is currently for example no plan to roll out shore power infrastructure in major ports across the UK, CCC says.

The committee, which advises the UK government on climate policies said, "Shore power infrastructure at major UK ports needs to be rolled out to support its uptake and enable widespread use." It has also called for immediate action and a “clear leadership” role to align the UK with global climate goals.

CCC has made several recommendations to the UK government:

• Addressing the lack of urgency
• Retaking a clear leadership role internationally
• Prioritising actions and policies immediately that will help in achieving net-zero emissions
• Not expand fossil fuel production

“The planning system must have an overarching requirement that all planning decisions must be taken giving full regard to the imperative of Net Zero,” CCC concluded.

By Aparupa Mazumder 

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