The Green Shipping Fuel Everyone’s Betting On (But Might Regret)

Imagine a world without shipping: supermarket shelves empty out, factories grind to a halt, and the global economy goes into shock. That might sound extreme—but we’ve had a taste of it. First with covid lockdowns, then when the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in 2021, holding up nearly 10% of global trade in a single, very embarrassing parking accident.

These incidents were a reality check. They showed just how much we rely on global shipping—not just for luxuries, but for the basics of modern life. Around 80% of global trade by volume travels by sea. Maritime transport is the lifeblood of global commerce and connectivity.

But all that convenience comes at a cost. In 2022, international shipping was responsible for nearly 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions—if shipping were a country it would be the 6th biggest emitter, sitting between Russia and Japan. So, if we’re serious about climate targets, we can’t ignore the ocean.

In this video, we’re going to explore what it will take to bring shipping’s emissions down to zero—and the technologies that could actually get us there.

00:00 Intro
01:07 Background - The Shipping Industry
02:41 Types of Cargo and their Emissions
03:15 Fuel Used for Shipping
05:41 The Future of Shipping
08:41 Green Technologies #1 - Battery Electric
12:06 Green Technologies #2 - BioFuel
13:46 Green Technologies #3 - Hydrogen
15:15 Green Technologies #4 - Methanol
16:32 Green Technologies #5 - Green Ammonia
22:22 Outro - What’s most likely to win?

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The Engineering with Rosie team is:
Rosemary Barnes - presenter, producer, writer
Javi Diez - editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/javierdie...
Jae Chong - research and production assistant

Links to resources used in the video:
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  / the-future-is  
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