The shipping and energy sectors have today launched a major push to cut emissions from their industries, ahead of world leaders taking to the stage at the UN Climate ACtion Summit in New York to make their own decarbonisation announcements.

The shipping industry today unveiled its Getting to Zero Coalition, which aims to "lead the push" for delivering zero emission vessels by 2030, as part of the sector's goal to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 against 2008 levels.

The Alliance, which brings together the maritime, energy, infrastructure, and finance sectors, is the result of a partnership between the Global Maritime Forum, Friends of the Ocean, and the World Economic Forum. Coalition members include shipping giant Maersk, which has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, and oil giant Shell.

"Energy efficiency has been an important tool which has helped us reduce CO2 emissions per container with 41 per cent over the last decade and position ourselves as a leader 10 per cent ahead of the industry average," said Søren Skou, CEO of Møller Mærsk. "However, efficiency measures can only keep shipping emissions stable, not eliminate them. To take the next big step change towards decarbonization of shipping, a shift in propulsion technologies or a shift to clean fuels is required which implies close collaboration from all parties. The coalition launched today is a crucial vehicle to make this collaboration happen."

Shipping is currently responsible for around two to three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but if left unchecked emissions could soar 250 per cent by 2050 according to some projections. Experts agree action to deliver zero carbon ships must start immediately if the sector is to hit its 2050 target, as ships built now will still be on the high seas in 2040 and beyond.

The Coalition's work is expected to involve developing new low-carbon ship designs and developing low-carbon fuels and associated infrastructure. "To reduce emissions by at least 50 per cent by 2050, zero emission vessels (ZEVs) and by association zero emissions fuels are a requirement, since improvement in energy and operational efficiencies - while critically important - is not enough, especially as trade volumes continue to grow," the group said in a statement.

Meanwhile the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), a grouping of some of the world's largest oil and gas firms which launched in 2017, today announced a new 'Kickstarter' programme to accelerate the rollout of large-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) plants around the world.

The CCUS Kickstarter scheme hopes to decarbonise industrial hubs across Europe, China and the US, with a goal to double the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently stored globally before 2030. To do this, it said it would help build five such hubs into operation in the  US, UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and China - although it is unclear whether the OGCI will be committing funding to the projects. 

"We are scaling up the speed, scale, and impact of our actions in support of the Paris Agreement," the group said in a joint statement. "Accelerating the energy transition requires sustainable, large-scale actions, different pathways and innovative technological solutions to keep global warming well below 2C. We are committed to enhancing our efforts as a constructive partner with governments, civil society, business and other stakeholders working together to transition to a net zero economy."

The OGCI also today reported progress against its target to bring average methane intensity down to below 0.25 per cent, announcing that the group's collective methane intensity is down nine per cent since last year.

"Encouraged by our experience of working together on reducing methane emissions, we are now working on a target to reduce by 2025 the collective average carbon intensity of our aggregated upstream oil and gas emissions," the group said.

The announcements from the oil and gas and shipping industry follow pledges yesterday from the banking sector and a raft of leading blue chips to accelerate decarbonisation efforts. New climate action commitments are also expected from a host of industry groups in the coming days, alongside imminent pledges to strengthen domestic climate action plans from over 50 world leaders.