The Lloyd’s List Podcast: Why moving from ambition to action is easier said than done

The zero emission capable ships may be coming, but they are not coming quickly enough. But even if we squint and avoid the question of how environmentally friendly a theoretically environmentally friendly ship really is, the ships aren’t really the biggest problem right now. It’s the lack of zero carbon fuels coming down the pipeline that’s keeping most industry executives awake at night. The scale of the challenge to produce green fuels is being vastly underestimated and all the imagined green corridors in the world are not going to scale up demand at a pace that is needed. For shipping to progress towards the next phase of this fuel transition, and in order for it to be in line with the ambitions set out at MEPC 80, there needs to be a fundamental shift in terms of policy, investment, public private partnerships and let’s face it, a leap of faith by investors on all sides. The Lloyd’s List Podcast comes from Athens this week, specifically from inside the Global Maritime Forum. And this edition focusses specifically on a few of the key conversations about progress towards shipping’s zero carbon future. The theme of this year’s GMF was moving from ambition to action - and that’s important because we’re at the point now where we are in danger of stalling and we need to see those pilot projects and agreements in principle start to scale into something more tangible. Speaking on today’s podcast you will hear: • Jan Dieleman is the President of Cargill Ocean Transportation, Chair of the Global Maritime Forum • Michael Parker, Citi global shipping, logistics and offshore chairman and chair of the Poseidon Principles • Katharine Palmer. Shipping Lead at the UN Climate Champions team Dr Tristan Smith, Associate Professor in Energy and Transport at UCL and Director of consultancy UMAS