Last week the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) announced it is leading a consortium of 18 companies in a pilot project to trial biofuels for marine fuel. Blockchain and traceability startup BunkerTrace is responsible for the tracking although GCMD is keen to highlight that it is technology agnostic. The maritime industry is currently a larger contributor to global carbon emissions than the aviation sector.
“By facilitating and creating an optimised drop-in green fuels supply chain, this pilot will help to shape national and international standards of biofuels bunkering and lower the barrier for their wider adoption to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” said Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of GCMD.
The most recent statistics show the maritime sector makes up 2.9% of carbon emissions compared to 2.4% for the aviation sector. However, those streaks left in the sky by aircraft – contrails – have a far more dramatic impact on global warming than CO2 emissions. It’s estimated that contrails’ current warming influence is greater than the impact of all CO2 ever emitted by aircraft. Both the aviation and maritime sectors are predicted to expand significantly in the coming decades, so something needs to be done regarding the fuels used.
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