by Przemysław Myszka

"Shipping is an essential global industry which is currently on an emissions trajectory that is dramatically out of line with the Paris Agreement temperature goal," reads Closing the Gap. An Overview of the Policy Options to Close the Competitiveness Gap and Enable an Equitable Zero-Emission Fuel Transition in Shipping, a report prepared by UMAS on behalf of the Getting to Zero Coalition.

If the transport community, both off- and ashore, truly cares about the environment and wants to participate in keeping the global temperature rise below one and a half centigrade, then there is no other option for it than to become zero-emission - and do so relatively fast.

Fortunately, UMAS marks, several measures can get the sector to the Promised Land by mid-century. Implementing some of them will be essential, which isn't to say others cannot put a match to setting the green revolution alight.

The authors also note that decarbonising shipping is something more than what next-gen marine fuel goes into the tank - in that the transition should be fair, reducing inequality instead of hammering the fractures between the well-off and the underprivileged.

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