Biden Administration Issues ‘Green Shipping Challenge’ to Spur the Shipping Industry to Decarbonize by 2050

(17 June, 2022) The Biden Administration announced several actions to tackle the climate crisis, including a “Green Shipping Challenge” to galvanize global action to decarbonize the international shipping industry. The United States and Norway issued the Green Shipping Challenge to encourage governments, ports, maritime carriers, cargo owners, and others in the shipping value chain to commit to concrete steps at COP 27 to help put the sector on a credible pathway this decade toward decarbonization by 2050. 

These commitments could include, for example, steps to produce zero-carbon fuels; develop zero-emission bunkering and recharging capabilities; deploy low- or zero-emission vessels; and create, or provide financial and technical support for green shipping corridors. 

Recent analysis from Environmental Defense Fund and the Maersk-McKinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping found that there are plausible pathways to fully decarbonize shipping by 2050. The analysis, which identifies the role of investors in decarbonizing shipping, concluded that with immediate action to test and de-risk new fuel pathways, stakeholders can reduce long-term costs and manage the risk of price or fuel supply shocks in the future. 

“The Biden Administration’s “Green Shipping Challenge” is exactly the call-to-action that the industry needs. To reach zero emissions by 2050, the shipping sector needs to take ambitious action to reduce fossil fuel usage right away and accelerate the uptake of zero-carbon fuels.  

Shipping's transition to zero carbon will be a challenge, but it is also an opportunity. Acting now to begin our voyage to zero carbon shipping will not only work toward a more stable, resilient and healthy climate, but also a stable, resilient and healthy shipping industry.” 

• Marie Hubatova, Senior Manager, Global Transportation, Environmental Defense Fund