Shipping Leaders Look to Develop a Roadmap for Biofuels with Commitment to Real Sustainability at Heart

Aviation Fuel/Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)Business News/Analysis Germany International Marine/Boat Bio and Renewable Fuel/MGO/MDO/SMF Opinions Other Conferences/Events Policy Presentations Sustainability

December 14, 2018

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials) The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) grouping of leading maritime organisations, and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) – the world’s most robust and trusted sustainability leader in the bioeconomy – came together in Berlin last week to exchange expertise in a showcase event designed to support the SSI as it explores options for the use of alternative fuels to help meet its goal of a sustainable shipping industry by 2040.

Held during RSB’s Annual Meeting of its members and stakeholders, the session unlocked the expertise and experience of RSB members as part of the SSI’s efforts in learning about other industries’ experiences to draw on and drive change across the maritime sector. With contributions from the likes of Valentina Vecchio at Boeing, Frederic Eychenne from Airbus, Robert Boyd of IATA, Bruno Miller from Fulcrum Bioenergy, Kevin Fingerman from Humboldt State University and Tjasa Bole-Rentel from WWF, a panel of experts looked at the kinds of lessons that the shipping sector can take from the aviation industry – which has been blazing the trail for alternative fuels for several years.

“We are ambitious: decarbonising the maritime sector is a huge task! But we have seen that it is possible to change an industry narrative to become more sustainable, just as we have seen in the aviation industry,” said Andrew Stephens, SSI’s Executive Director. “We believe that we will find better solutions, faster, by building alliances with and learning from other industries and leaders. We, at the SSI, are delighted to be collaborating with the RSB at this session, and we’re looking forward to further discussing ways of how we can draw on your experiences for the maritime sector’s sustainability journey.”

Frederic Eychenne, Head of New Energies at Airbus, shared the sentiment, “The RSB Annual Meeting was a fantastic opportunity to share best practices and views on sustainability – particularly as a forum for examining the lessons and expertise we have gained in the aviation sector to support the decarbonisation of other industries, particularly maritime.”

The second part of the session featured fuel experts from across the supply chain, including Philipp Stratmann of Velocys, Barbara Bramble from NWF, Bart Hellings from GoodFuels Marine and UPM Biofuels’ Maiju Helin, as well Kenneth Poucher, Global Environmental Advisor at A.P. Moeller-Maersk and Chester Lewis from E4Tech, who discussed the challenges and possible solutions to support the decarbonisation of the sector.

These sessions attempted to answer questions such as: How do we build a truly sustainable shipping industry by 2040? What lessons can be learned from the trail already being blazed by the aviation industry? What technical and supply chain expertise is needed to create the truly sustainable alternative fuels the industry will need if it is become a leader in the fight against climate change?

The SSI’s Working Group on Biofuels is a group of like-minded industry leaders committed to decarbonisation and the use of alternatives fuels for shipping. The Working Group is composed of representatives from Bunge, The China Navigation Company, IMC, Lloyds Register, Louis Dreyfus Company, Maersk and WWF.

Among the SSI’s achievements and pioneering work on decarbonisation and biofuels are: a University College London (UCL)-led study that examined the CO2 reductions required in order to limit global emissions to below the 2 degrees target (2015); research on Zero Emission Vessels (ZEVs) conducted by Lloyd’s Register Group and University Maritime Advisory Services (2018); and a deep dive into the issues related to biofuels and exploring its sustainability for shipping.

Summing up the session, panellist from WWF and Chairman of RSB’s Board, Stephen Wetmore concluded, “If the RSB Annual Meeting had one key takeaway it would be ‘collaboration’, actively exploring synergies through a potential supply chain increasingly means working across sectors. It is therefore particularly exciting to see the Sustainable Shipping Initiative engage with RSB, aviation leaders and fuel providers as it looks to build an alternative fuels roadmap. There is immense mutual benefit to helping each other shape demand, make and attract investments, and fast track action. We are encouraged that this means they are keenly looking to embed real and credible sustainability from day one.”

Simon Bennett, General Manager for Sustainable Development at the China Navigation Company, said “this joint session between the RSB and the SSI at the former’s annual meeting was very useful indeed. It allowed the marine sector to gain knowledge of the experience built up over a decade of the RSB working to help decarbonise the air transport sector, and helped us identify the known unknowns that we must answer to use sustainable biofuel to help our sector decarbonise. It also helped us all begin to identify the economic questions that we must work on if we are to viably introduce a significant new demand market user from the marine sector into the current tight supply side market.”

Ultimately, this showcase event aimed to spark conversations, build collaborations and serve as a foundation for the ongoing work of the SSI in developing a sustainable fuels roadmap and to help the RSB to bring its best-in-class approach to sustainability to a new audience. Looking ahead to 2019, the collaboration between the two organisations is set to continue with RSB providing support to the SSI’s biofuels task force.

AGENDA OF THE SHIPPING SHOWCASE AT RSB’S ANNUAL MEETING

Panel 1: Lessons from building a sustainable alternative fuels supply chain

A deep dive into the challenges, lessons and opportunities to be taken from the experience of the aviation industry in building sustainable alternative fuels supply chains. Leaders from different parts of the supply chain will lead a discussion that aims to support the marine industry in finding concrete solutions – while learning from the challenges that the aviation industry has had to overcome.

Introduction – Robert Boyd, Senior Manager – Aviation Environment, IATA

Panellists: Frederic Eychenne, Airbus; Valentina Vecchio, Boeing; Bruno Miller, Fulcrum Bioenergy; Tjasa Bole-Rental, WWF; Kevin Fingerman, Humboldt State University; Robert Boyd, IATA

Panel 2: Developing a sustainable fuel for the shipping industry

Ensuring there is a truly sustainable marine fuel in enough quantities, in the right places and at the right cost to support this global issue presents a major challenge for producers, traders and end-users. This session will bring together fuel experts who will demystify these challenges and propose solutions.

Introduction – Maiju Helin, Senior Manager – Sustainability and Market Development, UPM Biofuels

Panellists: Philipp Stratmann, Velocys; Bart Hellings, Good Fuels Marine; Barbara Bramble, National Wildlife Federation; Kenneth Poucher, A.P. Moller-Maersk; Chester Lewis, E4Tech; Maiju Helin, UPM Biofuels

ABOUT THE RSB:

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) is an international, multi-stakeholder, independent organisation that supports the development of the global bioeconomy through sustainability solutions, certification, innovation and collaborative partnerships.

With credible solutions, global expertise, partners across the spectrum from government to industry and NGOs, and an extremely robust approach to sustainability, RSB is the partner of choice for the bioeconomy as it seeks to combat climate change while also ensuring social development and environmental protection.

RSB is a member-led organisation which represents a worldwide movement of businesses, NGOs, academics, government and UN organisations that have demonstrated their commitment to the development of the sustainable bioeconomy by working together to create our most trusted Standard. The RSB Standard is the strongest and most trusted of its kind, recognised as such by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

ABOUT THE SSI:

The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) is a multi-stakeholder initiative that brings together like-minded and leading organisations with shared goals and equal determination in improving the sustainability of the shipping industry in terms of social, environmental and economic impacts.

Comprising ambitious leaders spanning the entire shipping value chain, SSI members range from charterers, ship owners and ship yards to ports & port operators, banks, ship finance & insurance providers, classification societies and technology companies.

The SSI is leading the way in doing what is right and required to meet the goals outlined in its vision for 2040 by way of the SSI Roadmap – in the absence of or going beyond compliance with regulation. We seek to change the narrative of the shipping industry by influencing others to act and ultimately support a level playing field where high performing and sustainability-focussed actors are rewarded by a diverse set of increasingly engaged stakeholders. READ MORE