Some Advice on the U.K.-U.S. Green Shipping Corridor

Recently, the Department of Energy (DOE) posted a request for information (RFI) regarding the development of green shipping corridors (GSCs) between the United States and the United Kingdom (DE-FOA-0003156). The purpose of the RFI is to solicit feedback from maritime stakeholders on issues related to the establishment of green shipping corridors between the U.S. and the U.K.

We are pleased to submit our comments regarding the U.K.-U.S. GSCs. This post summarizes the main points raised in our filing.

Read the filing below.

What are Green Shipping Corridors?

Green shipping corridors are maritime routes that showcase zero- and near zero- emission lifecycle fuels and technologies with the ambition to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions across all aspects of the corridor in support of sector-wide decarbonization no later than 2050.

The concept of GSCs debuted back in COP26 as part of the First Movers Coalition. This means decarbonization of the maritime sector was NOT part of the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Ideally, Green shipping corridors should lay the ground for the massive reductions that will happen once these solutions roll out globally. Within the purview of this RFI, if the U.K.-U.S. partnership is successful, then ultimately zero-emission shipping should be a commercially viable option that can be deployed anywhere and not just on certain routes by 2030.

Challenges and Barriers

There are several challenges and barriers for a green shipping corridor between the U.S. and U.K.

Regarding technology barriers, uncertainty on the fuel pathways persists at the global level, and there is no clear alternative fuel of choice (unlike, say, sustainable aviation fuel for the aviation sector). Innovation must stimulate the further development of several fuel options to support a multi-fuel mix future suitable for different modes of operation and geography. But existing constraints on time and investments imply that it may be infeasible and impractical to place many bets.

Regarding policy challenges, some of them involve vessel types and implementation challenges. Currently, most of the proposed green shipping corridors focus primarily on container ships, but these are “low hanging fruits” that are relatively easier to decarbonize and comprise less than a quarter of the maritime sector’s total emissions. Furthermore, DOE should consider carefully whether it wants to implement a phased approach or go for zero- and near-zero emission demonstrations immediately. While a phased approach may ease the transition, relying on fossil fuels during an interim period may jeopardize the sector’s ability to fully decarbonize by 2050.

Regarding regulatory challenges, it is not certain whether the two countries are on the same page regarding the life-cycle assessment of shipping emissions. As a parallel, for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Argonne National Lab’s GREET model and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s CORSIA have different estimates of SAF’s life cycle emissions. And then there’s the Jones Act, the century old law that restricts water transportation of cargo between U.S. ports to ships that are U.S.-owned, U.S.-crewed, U.S.-registered, and U.S.-built… how will the U.K. deal with the Jones Act?