Lower-emission fuels, such as methanol or ammonia, are available, but it’s unlikely that their production can be scaled up quickly enough to meet the global demand, which means fuel consumption must be reduced, De Beukelaer says. “We’re currently burning 300 million tonnes of fossil fuels in the shipping industry every single year, and that will double or triple by 2050.” The target is up for revision in July: “Unless something very unexpected happens, I would assume that the level of ambition will increase quite drastically and the target will become zero emissions by 2050,” De Beukelaer adds.
