As the impacts of climate change bite ever more into tender flesh and ever closer to home, with even the iconic olive tree, the epitome of resilience in the arid Mediterranean summer, forecasted to regress in the basin and to move further north as a result of warming temperatures, a sense of resignation might be seeping in that we are actually losing the plot.

The Ukraine conflict and Russia’s gas supply squeeze might have been the final nail in the coffin as Europe’s previously vilified coal and gas reserves take on a new lustre as alternatives to Russian gas.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom as a new generation of ecopreneurs embark on financial risks to implement innovative solutions which could help turn the tide, with the big blue space out there, i.e. the ocean, increasingly seen as key to a number of these solutions.

Charles Babbage, synonymous with the Difference Engine, forerunner to the modern-day computer, was once again anachronistic and well ahead of his time when, in 1851, he saw in the ocean “a perennial source of power hitherto unapplied”.

He was obviously referring to tidal energy, given his fascination with the constancy of tides and his preoccupation that coal mines would become depleted! But while his computing contraption was taken forward, his suggestion to tap into ocean energy was, unfortunately, not.

Fast forward to 2022 and tidal power has definitely come of age. For instance, compared to the current three per cent contribution it makes to the UK’s energy mix, tidal power is expected to contribute a whopping 11 per cent of the same mix by 2050. Geography is key for tidal power, given that tides do not occur uniformly around the world’s coasts.

While the Mediterranean is largely microtidal (i.e. subject to very small tides, with very few exceptions, including the Venice Lagoon and the Gulf of Gabes in Tunisia), the Bay of Fundy along the Atlantic coast of Canada experiences staggering tidal excursions ranging between three metres and 16 metres in height! Scotland too is blessed with vigorous tides, such that it is considered to be to tides what Saudi Arabia is to oil, with one in 12 households in the remote Orkney Islands being powered by tidal power.

But while tidal power might not be relevant for the largely tide-less Mediterranean, green shipping definitely is, given that basin’s importance as a global shipping corridor courtesy of the world’s largest shipping canal – the Suez. Proponents of maritime shipping constantly peddle the maxim that ocean-going vessels are one of the least carbon-intensive pathways to shuttling goods around the world, as compared with air and train freight.

This might be true but shipping still contributes around three per cent of global greenhouse emissions and this is probably set to increase as some analysts predict that international shipping might triple by 2050. As a result, the type of fuel powering vessels is increasingly under the spotlight, with methanol, ammonia and hydrogen being touted as viable alternatives to fossil fuels.

‘Green shipping’ is still somewhat elusive - Alan Deidun

Burning methanol obviously releases carbon dioxide since it’s a carbon-based fuel, thus resulting in a zero net contribution to cutting greenhouse emissions if the methanol is manufactured simply by siphoning off carbon dioxide from power-plant smokestacks.

Hence, the focus on biomethanol, which is based on carbon dioxide derived from fermenting plant or animal biomass, which thus represent carbon that would nonetheless end up spewed into the atmosphere, unlike the carbon locked for long-term storage in fossil fuels.

The EU’s e-methanol project relies on agricultural waste, such as cow manure, for its supply of carbon dioxide, of which there is simply not enough to match the industry’s projected need by 2050. The idea is catching on, with Danish shipping giant Maersk ordering 12 new cargo vessels which run on methanol to be delivered by 2025. Although representing just two per cent of Maersk’s global fleet, this is a first step in decarbonising the global shipping fleet.

Ammonia has been bandied about as a viable alternative to fossil fuels, being produced from renewably generated hydrogen so as to stave off the greenhouse emissions involved in the production of methanol. A drawback of using ammonia is its toxicity, representing a hazard to human and marine life in case of leakages, and the current level of maturity of ammonia-fired vessel engines, which is still low.

Hydrogen as a fuel might be easier to produce but its large-scale adoption is stymied by its challenging storage, at least for now. But if the alternatives away from fossil fuels do exist, there is practically no mitigation for the carbon footprint constituted by the increasing demand for concrete (port expansion), steel (hulls and containers) and plastics (increasing consumerism) that a growing shipping industry represents.

A number of private actors within the shipping sector might be espousing the green cause but others are not… for instance, the IMO’s (International Maritime Organisation) current climate change strategy only mandates cutting the sector’s greenhouse emissions by half by 2050, while scientists advocate climate neutrality by that date if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Hence, although tangible steps have been taken in such a direction, ‘green shipping’ is still somewhat elusive, with some analysts predicting that placing more stringent emission cuts on the industry will fuel shipping costs and inflation concerns, at a time when inflation is already the bane of global consumer confidence.

Jane Lubchenco, former head of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) under US President Barack Obama’s tenure, hit the nail on its head when stating: “It’s time to stop thinking of the ocean as a victim of climate change and to start thinking of it as a powerful part of the solution.”

This column is based on selected articles featured within the July 11 edition of Time magazine.

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