Decarbonising shipping: why it matters and how the maritime industry can respond
In our Issues section, we discuss the big questions facing the built and natural environments.
Zuletzt aktualisiert: August 2025
Steigende Temperaturen stellen verschiedene Länder und Gemeinden vor eine Reihe von Problemen, die es zu lösen gilt - von der öffentlichen Gesundheit über die "Bewohnbarkeit" von Gebieten bis hin zu Infrastruktur und wirtschaftlichen Herausforderungen.
Im letzten Jahrhundert haben sich mit dem Wachstum der Städte die Hitzeinseln in den Städten vervielfacht, wobei die Auswirkungen durch den anhaltenden Anstieg derCO2-Emissionen noch verstärkt werden. Wie jüngste Ereignisse wie die Waldbrände in Los Angeles im Jahr 2024 gezeigt haben, führen ungewöhnliche Klimamuster zu noch nie dagewesenen Unwettern, wodurch die Notwendigkeit klimaresistenter Planungs- und Gestaltungsmaßnahmen immer wichtiger wird.
Die urbane Kühlung - als Teil einer umfassenderen Klimaanpassung und der Stärkung der Widerstandsfähigkeit - ist heute eine wichtige Priorität für Städte auf der ganzen Welt, aber in vielen Gebieten fehlt es an Fachwissen, um das komplexe Problem der extremen Hitze zu bewältigen. Steigende Temperaturen sind ein gemeinsames Problem, mit dem jeder in der Gemeinschaft konfrontiert ist, daher müssen Lösungen in den Bereichen Planung, Design, Betriebspraktiken und alltägliches Verhalten für alle funktionieren.
In den letzten Jahren haben die Klimaexperten, Stadtplaner und Bauingenieure von Arup Städte und Regierungen bei der Bewältigung des Klimawandels und extremer Wetterbedingungen auf verschiedenen Ebenen unterstützt. Uns ist klar, dass die Erwärmung der Städte nicht mit einer einzigen Stelle oder einer einzigen Taktik angegangen und gelöst werden kann. Es erfordert das Engagement der gesamten Gemeinschaft und stadtspezifische Erkenntnisse. Es bedarf dringender und mutiger Änderungen in der Stadtplanung, der Baupolitik und den Baunormen. Grundsätzlich ist eine Offenheit für neue Ideen seitens der Eigentümer, Planer und Entwickler erforderlich. In diesem Issues-Artikel untersuchen wir einige der Lösungen und Ansätze, die am besten funktionieren.
Decarbonising a complex sector
Maritime transport is a diverse and varied sector, spanning urban commuter ferries to oceangoing container ships and fishing boats to offshore construction vessels. Each segment of the industry faces its own commercial drivers, challenges and solutions when considering how to minimise carbon emissions.
Deep sea cargo shipping requires substantial energy to cross entire oceans and reaching net zero will require a major shift to sustainable fuels. For now, alternative fuels (like bio methanol or e-ammonia) are expensive, but the additional cost can pale in comparison to the value of goods these mega ships transport. This opens up the opportunity for new commercial agreements that distribute some of the costs of sustainable fuels through supply chains.
Cargo shipping's CO2 emissions account for nearly 3% of the world's total emissions. The opportunities and potential impacts offered by alternative marine fuels are therefore huge.
Domestic and short-sea ferries – along with port craft, workboats, pleasure craft, and some cargo carrying vessels – are increasingly adopting battery energy storage technologies, workable for shorter duration voyages. Of course, batteries need charging infrastructure and landside planning of electrical systems can be challenging, but innovation in energy storage and charging technologies is expanding the size and type of vessels that can adopt these solutions.
How do we source sustainable maritime fuels?
For now, we simply don’t produce enough sustainable fuels to support either emerging demand or address net zero targets. Market development is itself a complex thing – requiring the alignment of capabilities, resources, investment and incentives. We need to see a rapid expansion in the production and supply of hydrogen-based fuels, bio-fuels and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) enabled fuels.
Developing each of these fuel types will mean overcoming challenges around cost, scalability and sustainability. Policy makers and the market will need to establish whether these fuels are best produced locally, nationally or internationally.
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Publication – Power-to-X export hubs: planning and design for renewable fuel infrastructure
Publication – Opportunities for the UK to kick-start shipping’s transition to zero greenhouse gas emission fuel
What role do green shipping corridors and other innovation partnerships play?
To make significant progress towards green shipping will require innovation at a number of levels: new technologies, business models, and supportive regulations that enable the safe demonstration of low-carbon solutions. Green shipping corridors and similar innovation partnerships offer a vital testing ground for these ideas, helping to accelerate their development and scale. These collaborations often require coordination across the value chain, including between competitors, going further than business-as-usual.
Drawing on our experience supporting these partnerships – both in shipping and in other sectors that have embraced collaborative innovation – we’re supporting maturing of these initiatives towards operations. This includes delivering pre-feasibility and feasibility studies that assess zero-GHG fuel demand at ports, exploring production or import options, and designing fuel distribution concepts. These studies integrate technical, commercial, and policy expertise within a strategic framework that enables a viable and successful green shipping corridor.
Early movers on green shipping should recognise that they gain the opportunity to unlock related benefits at the national scale. Demand for sustainable shipping fuel can act as a key enabler of industrial and energy strategies, supporting investment in renewable energy, green technology manufacturing and huge fuel production hubs – leading to green jobs, emission reductions and a faster energy transition.
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Publication – Navigating collaboration: good governance for green shipping corridors
Publication – Canadian Green Shipping Corridors Preliminary Assessment
Publication – Port energy supply for green shipping corridors
Change on land: what does the future hold for ports?
Ports play a key role in the wider journey to net zero and port authorities and operators are rethinking their role in a climate resilient future. They’re natural sites for offshore wind manufacturing and construction hubs, and can become green energy terminals for import and export of sustainable fuels and captured carbon, or acting as electrification hubs for low carbon mobility.
Ports are likely to play an increasingly key role as productive sites in the energy transition.
We have been helping ports around the world to develop their decarbonisation strategies and action plans. The goal is always a pathway that aligns policy, finance and customer drivers to unlock commercial delivery and support port growth. This means taking a ‘systems view’ of a port’s entire operations, recognising that decarbonisation is about reducing ‘scope 3’ emissions (indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in a company's value chain) by supporting value chain stakeholders too – but doing this in a way that unlocks investment in port cities, with broad socio-economic benefits. Given the level of uncertainty across the maritime industry, a joined-up long-term view is essential to build a credible and effective decarbonisation plan.
You might be interested in
News – Arup and Environmental Defense Fund release new guide on port decarbonisation
Article – Ports, net zero, systems thinking and big opportunities
Expertise – Learn more about our our work across the maritime industry
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