MEETING the International Maritime Organization’s 2030 green targets will be expensive but achievable as long as the shipping industry works together, panellists told Marine Money Asia.

The IMO raised its ambition target in July to reach net-zero emissions by or around 2050 and hopes to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2030 and 70% by 2040, compared with 2008 levels. Member states also agreed to a 5%-10% uptake of zero or near-zero emission fuels to be used by 2030.

Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation chief executive Lynn Loo told the September 26 event the industry had to work together to overcome the challenge.

“It means we need to step outside our comfort zone, take the risks that we can take so that we can get there collectively,” she said.

Pavilion Energy operations and chartering head Toby Forrest said: “We all need to work together to share more and it’s not just about diversity in innovations.”

Panellists repeated long-running industry fears about the inevitable surge in costs, and the need to pass these on to charterers, which they would not like.

“The cost of these [alternative] fuels is just enormous …. we are talking about a differential of $2,000 a tonne,” said Berge Bulk chief executive James Marshall.

“Shipowners know that we have advanced technologies coming and we have the ability to invent it, but it’s still not clear that the industry is going to pay that price.

“If you ask a charterer today, is he going to pay on top of his freight? I think the answer will be no.”

Financiers were also urged to help manage the rising costs of decarbonisation and they had to talk more with industry.

Purus Marine chief operating officer Pontus Berg said ultimately the customer must want to be greener.

“It is very much driven by the shoppers,… it is the end user that has a preference for actually going this way,” he said.

Forrest called for data sharing to reduce costs and find the most effective ways of to cut emissions. 

“Clients don’t have the personnel, and they don’t have the training. And they probably don’t have the data,” he said.

Training and starting from scratch was a “very expensive exercise from our personnel point of view, so we should pool our resources to try and find that out”.

Lack of supply of fuels such as methanol, ammonia and hydrogen was another barrier to meeting the IMO 2030 goals.