19 nations have agreed today during COP26 to work together on establishing ‘Green Corridors’. These corridors will be shared maritime trade routes on which to scale up zero-emission shipping.
The corridors cover both the necessary port infrastructure as well as vessels powered by zero-emission fuels. The goal is to establish six green corridors by 2025, with the longer term goal to scale activity to support both an increased number and longer routes by 2030.
The commitment to establishing these corridors has been signed under the Clydebank Declaration.
As part of the declaration, the signatories pledge to:
- Facilitate the establishment of partnerships, with participation from ports, operators and others along the value chain, to accelerate the decarbonisation of the shipping sector and its fuel supply through green shipping corridor project
- Identify and explore actions to address barriers to the formation of green corridors. This could cover, for example, regulatory frameworks, incentives, information sharing or infrastructure
- Consider the inclusion of provisions for green corridors in the development or review of National Action Plans
- Work to ensure that wider consideration is taken for environmental impacts and sustainability when pursuing green shipping corridors.
Ingrid Irigoyen, associate director for Ocean and Climate at The Aspen Institute, said: “Establishing zero-carbon shipping corridors is a clear and necessary next step in this transition. We’ll need to align stakeholders across the shipping and fuels value chains in specific geographies, and having this group of governments ready and eager to support those efforts is extremely helpful. As expressed in the coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement, cargo owners are interested in supporting concrete zero-carbon corridor projects.”
Signatories include: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The United States of America.
The naming of the Clydebank Declaration pays tribute to the heritage of the City of Glasgow and the River Clyde where the Declaration was signed on 10 November 2021.
The Declaration sits within the Zero-Emission Shipping Mission and is designed to complement work at the International Maritime Organization to enable zero-emission shipping.
Read more about the Clydebank Declaration here.
