New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Pressure builds for greener skies and seas
9/11/2022
6 min read
Feature
Plans to decarbonise aviation and shipping – glues of global trade and travel – are moving faster than ever, but from a very low base. As sustainability consultant Michelle Meineke asks here, is progress quick enough?
Blank stares were a common response when one spoke of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) or hydrogen shipping fuels at most energy gatherings five years ago. Today, plans for both – and other routes to cut CO2 emissions in the skies and seas – are rapidly becoming part of industries’ evolving vocabulary.
The speed of change, in the last two years especially, has been immense. But the magnitude of the challenge means progress is still in its infancy. Combined, aviation and shipping account for approximately 5% of global CO2 emissions, which perhaps is not as large as you would expect when air cargo carried 125mn tonnes worldwide last year and international shipping accounts for 90% of global trade.
But that 5% will start to soar in parallel with the anticipated 22% growth in global population by 2050, to 9.7bn people. Halting this surge now – without curtailing industries’ growth – means quickly investing more resources in policies, technologies, implementation, compliance and global fungibility to get us on track.