Norwegian maritime partners join forces to find the fastest way to zero emissions
The Green Shipping Challenge, whose primary aim is to catalyse the global transition to green shipping, was issued as part of a joint statement on climate by Norwegian Prime Minister Johas Gahr Støre and Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry in May 2022, according to the company's release.
The Norwegian collaboration will be formally announced today (Monday 7 November) at a high-level launch event during COP27 in Egypt.
The Norwegian maritime partners will be represented by Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) President, Svein Tore Holsther.
Participants in the Norwegian collaboration will strive towards reducing emissions from shipping by 50% by 2030, in line with the Norway’s national climate goals. This comes in addition to the current target of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce CO2 emissions from global shipping by at least 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. Alongside efforts to improve the energy efficiency of existing vessels, the partners undertake to develop, design and build the zero-emission vessels of the future. Achieving 2030 national climate goals will require 700 low-emission and 400 zero-emission ships in Norway alone.
Norwegian financial partners with maritime patronage will utilise capital instruments to support green measures and projects through the provision of risk capital and financial advisory services in line with regulatory requirements and expectations. Norwegian government support for green initiatives and infrastructure development for fossil-free energy sources will also play a key role.
Collaboration participants comprise GCE Blue Maritime (maritime cluster centre of excellence), NCE Maritime CleanTech (Cluster for Clean Maritime Solutions, Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon (The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, NHO), Norsk Industri (The Federation of Norwegian Industries), Norges Rederiforbund (Norwegian Shipowners Association), Kystrederiene (Norwegian Coastal Shipowners), Maritimt Forum (Maritime Forum industry association), Havila Kystruten (Havila Voyages), Hurtigruten, Kongsberg (marine technology) and DNV (classification society).
The Green Shipping Challenge is designed to encourage concrete actions from countries, ports, companies and other actors in the shipping value chain to help put the shipping sector on a pathway this decade to align with the Paris Agreement goal to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C.
