COP28 | Green hydrogen producers pledge 11 million tonnes of H2 supply for marine fuel by 2030

A joint call for action at COP28 has pledged to use green hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia and methanol for at least 5% of shipping fuels by 2030.

About five million tonnes of green H₂ would need to be produced as feedstock to meet this goal, which would reduce maritime emissions in line with a pathway to keep global warming below 1.5°C.

This is according to the document signed by 21 companies — from ship owners and operators to ports and hydrogen project developers — and supported by nine international associations, which cited figures from one of the supporting organisations, the Global Maritime Forum’s Getting to Zero Coalition.

The prospective green hydrogen producers that signed the joint call for action — including CWP, InterContinental Energy, ReNew, and Orsted — have agreed to supply “sizeable shares” of this five million tonnes of demand and aim for 11 million tonnes of production capacity for use in shipping by the beginning of next decade.

The 11-million-tonnes target reflects a pledge by ship owners, operators and financiers — such as Maersk, Mitsui OSK Lines, and Norstar — to invest in vessels capable of operating on ammonia or methanol to “meet the goal of at least 5%, aiming for 10%, zero-emission fuels use by 2030 and rapid scaling thereafter”.

Similarly, cargo owners that signed the document aim to only use ocean freight services powered by zero-emission fuels by 2040.

In addition, the port signatories say they will “support investment in green hydrogen (hydrogen-derived fuel) infrastructure and safety projects to support re-fueling of ships, and to become part of green corridor projects” to drive further investment.

The companies also call for the International Maritime Organization and its member states to “adopt an ambitious mid-term measure package in 2025 for entry into force in 2027, including a GHG Intensity fuel standard on a well-to-wake basis”.

They also suggest a pricing mechanism, such as a levy, on conventional fuels to drive further adoption of low-carbon options.

Additionally, the joint call for action asks for further government support, such as subsidies to allow “long-term price certainty for producers while reducing risk for offtakers” and incentives to scale up infrastructure and workforces for green shipping corridors.

It also calls for international alignment on frameworks to calculate well-to-wake greenhouse gas emissions for fuels.

In Europe, the FuelEU package for maritime emissions reduction, signed into law in September, includes a double-counting of emissions savings from renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs), ie, derived from green H₂ (as defined in the Delegated Acts).

It also includes a sub-target, wherein if the share of RFNBOs is less than 1% in 2031, a mandate for ships to use 2% of these fuels as a share of annual onboard energy consumption will kick in by the beginning of 2034.