Since 2020, the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program has been focused on catalyzing private sector leadership and driving policy change to enable full decarbonization of the maritime sector by 2050 at the latest. Our work has prioritized providing a space for “impossible” dialogues to thrive, encouraging leaders across industries and sectors to recast what they think is achievable in terms of how policy, economics, technology, and above all, relationships can be brought to bear to build a sustainable, ZE maritime future. With this focus, Aspen worked in collaboration with and input from a network of cargo owner companies to develop coZEV, Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels, a platform specifically designed for climate-leading customers of the shipping industry where cargo owners can come together to undertake high impact initiatives that accelerate the transition to zero-emission (ZE) maritime shipping.

The mission of the coZEV initiative is to provide opportunities for cargo owner companies to collaboratively lead, innovate, and set a high level of ambition toward decarbonization of the maritime sector. In order to accomplish this, coZEV provides a nimble, ambitious, and action-focused platform for climate-forward companies to work with one another — and others in the maritime shipping supply chain — to undertake concrete initiatives that accelerate the pace of shipping decarbonization, bring zero-emission fuel and technology solutions to scale, and harness collective cargo owner voice to send demand signals for zero-emission solutions to the shipping value chain and policymakers. Through engagement in coZEV, cargo owners help shape the zero-emission shipping transition in order to achieve their ambitious climate goals and meet the logistical needs of their global businesses.

As of 2024, there are no fees for participation in any of coZEV's work, including the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA).

The Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program developed coZEV with maritime experts partners and cargo owner input and serves as its facilitator and secretariat. Philanthropic resources to support coZEV are provided in part by the ClimateWorks Foundation. coZEV was launched with support from founding partners Clean Air Task Force, Environmental Defense Fund, Ocean Conservancy, and University College London Energy Institute. Other valued partners who continue to support coZEV's work include Neoteric Energy & Climate, Lloyd's Register, Lloyd's Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub, Global Maritime Forum, C40 Cities, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and Smart Freight Buyers Alliance.

coZEV is unique in its role and function. There is currently other effort specifically designed to provide opportunities for cargo owners to signal customer demand and high ambition for zero-emission shipping. coZEV is focused on harnessing cargo owner leadership in climate action and responding to their specific shipping decarbonization concerns by creating high-ambition collaborative projects tailored to their interests.

Collaboration is a priority for the Aspen Institute and the coZEV network. There are several important existing initiatives that organize industry players across various parts of the shipping value chain in support of shipping decarbonization, including the Getting to Zero Coalition. The work of coZEV complements these existing efforts. The shipping industry’s cargo owner customers are essential catalyzers of action, but they cannot enact the change needed alone. Engagement across the value chain, with other experts, and policymakers is essential.

There are several ways for cargo owners to get involved in coZEV and its high impact initiatives that accelerate the transition to zero-emission (ZE) maritime shipping.

All companies who utilize maritime shipping services and want to show leadership and send a demand signal for ZE maritime shipping are welcome to add their name and logo to the coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement.

Cargo owners interested in maritime shipping decarbonization policy or accelerating the creation of ambitious green shipping corridors can help coZEV shape our work around these topics.

Membership is required to join the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) is a first-of-its-kind buyers alliance in the maritime space with a mission to accelerate the commercial deployment of ZE shipping.

For more information on any of coZEV's work and how to get involved, please email meera.kallupura@aspeninstitute.org.

Studies from Lloyd’s Register and UCL/UMAS have demonstrated that while many technical and operational efficiency measures are currently available and should be deployed, they are not enough. Operational and technical efficiency measures can at most provide a 50% carbon intensity reduction for fossil powered shipping, not nearly enough to fully decarbonize the sector in line with Paris Agreement goals. Therefore, a full scale transition to zero emission fuels and technologies ‒ combined with maximum feasible use of efficiency measures ‒ is necessary. Given the predicted long arc of this transition, the pace of change must accelerate quickly.

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance developed a zero-emission fuel definition in support of its first tender for zero-emission shipping services which can be found here. ZEMBA is looking to refine our ZE fuel definition for our next tender - to launch in late 2024 - focused on aggregating demand for the deployment of fuels produced with renewable energy (e-fuels).

The coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement defines ZE fuels as:

• ZE fuels are those that have zero or near-zero greenhouse gas emissions (not only CO2) on a lifecycle basis. Lifecycle emissions, often termed in shipping “well-to-wake” emissions, take into account the emissions of a fuel at all stages of its harvest, production, and use for propulsion and auxiliary power. Analyzing emissions from a lifecycle perspective ensures that all the potential impacts to the environment and human society are taken into account.

• Acceptable ZE fuels are those that are sufficiently scalable (individually or in combination) to decarbonize the entire shipping industry. A 2020 Lloyd's Register and UCL/UMAS study — Techno-economic assessment of zero carbon fuels — discusses the scalability concerns of some maritime fuels due to limited production potential and competition for their use that will lead to supply constraints. Addressing safety and land use concerns regarding potential ZE fuels is also noted as important. Land use concerns, competition with human food supply, and ecosystem damage from production relate in particular to some categories of biofuels. A focus on safety is relevant for all potential new fuels and technologies, but a specific discussion of toxicity and other impacts of ammonia as an alternative shipping fuel is found below.

• Importantly, the statement also calls for establishment of globally recognized standards for ZE shipping fuels, as have been developed for sustainable aviation fuels.

While this general definition keeps the door option to a variety of potential fuel and technology types, the definition cautions against fuels and technologies that experts have indicated will offer no or only very modest greenhouse gas reduction potential and will be costly to retrofit for use with ZE fuels. In particular, the definition echoes the concerns regarding LNG (particularly fossil-LNG) that have been expressed by the World Bank and other prominent organizations.

Furthermore, the definition points to hydrogen and hydrogen-derived shipping fuels (e.g., liquid hydrogen and ammonia) as offering a potential economically viable pathway for ZE shipping from a lifecycle perspective that meet our other criteria as well, without closing the door to future fuel and technology innovation. When produced with ZE energy, hydrogen-derived fuels are as near to ZE as can be achieved from a lifecycle perspective. A 2019 study by Lloyd’s Register and UCL/UMAS — Fuel Production cost estimates and assumptions — provides more information on the lifecycle emissions of different fuels.

The ZE definition in the footnote of the coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement was written jointly by cargo owner companies and not-for-profit experts as a way to clarify general criteria for appropriate “ZE fuels without constraining future flexibility to include or exclude specific fuel types as innovation unfolds and as experts learn more about the pros and cons of various fuels.

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) has developed a more detailed definition of ZE fuels to support ZEMBA's inaugural tender, which can be found on the ZEMBA initiative page here. ZEMBA is looking to refine our ZE fuel definition for our next tender - to launch in late 2024 - focused on aggregating demand for the deployment of fuels produced with renewable energy (e-fuels).

E-ammonia (ammonia made with renewable energy) is attracting particular interest as a future alternative to fossil fuel for shipping for its ability to avoid emissions from a lifecycle perspective, be produced at vast scale, and at potentially competitive prices, particularly where adequately supported by policy. However, there are important questions remaining about its safe onboard use and bunkering, non-carbon pollutants that may need to be mitigated (including NOx and N20, a greenhouse gas), and concerns about clean up protocols in the event of marine spills. The results of studies underway on these matters are eagerly anticipated, as is the creation of appropriate international and domestic fuel standards and regulatory updates to address concerns. These will help society determine the appropriateness of e-ammonia as a potential cornerstone ZE fuel to support shipping's decarbonization.

Wind?

Wind assist technology is a powerful new/ancient additional efficiency measure to reduce the use of fuel during transoceanic voyages. While wind as a primary propulsion system is possible for some routes on some vessel types, it isn’t a viable global decarbonization solution on its own for all of shipping. Widespread use of wind assist to bolster the efficient use of all fuels has exciting potential for the future. Furthermore, wind power (along with other renewable energy sources, like solar) can also be used to generate power as a feedstock for the production of ZE fuels such as e-hydrogen.

Methanol?

Methanol is an easy to deploy and relatively inexpensive fuel for lowering net-emissions. Its formulation requires carbon and in order to become at (or near) net zero, those carbon sources must be either low-emission biofuels or direct air capture. Bio-based methanol may play a transition role as companies begin adapting their procurement in favor of ZE shipping and seek to lower their shipping emissions immediately. However, there are long term sustainability concerns with any bio-based shipping fuels because of potential land use concerns, supply limitations, and anticipated competition from other sectors seeking to use biofuels (e.g., aviation). Methanol made with carbon captured from the air is currently expensive, but could offer economically viable opportunities in the future as direct air capture technologies advance and come to scale.

Nuclear?

Nuclear power can be used as a feedstock for hydrogen production, and there is also work being done to develop new nuclear-powered marine propulsion technologies. The ambition statement does not weigh in on the acceptability of either. Instead, the statement emphasizes the requirement that any shipping fuels of the future must address society’s safety and other social and environmental concerns.

It is generally understood that ZE fuels may cost more than fossil fuels in the early years, until there is sufficient policy support to close the cost gap and large-scale deployment of those fuels to achieve economies of scale.

Through ZEMBA's first tender process, the importance of ambitious global policy to eliminate the price gap between fossil and zero-emission powered service was clear. Without both first mover investment and an ambitious policy landscape, the high cost of new premium ZE solutions will likely limit their production and deployment throughout the maritime sector, thereby risking a delayed and uneven transition. First movers through ZEMBA are willing to pay more to catalyze the sector's transition to a zero-emission future for a time, but they cannot and should not foot the bill forever.

The results from ZEMBA’s first tender process can provide real-world insights to inform the development of ambitious global decarbonization policy, including by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the global regulatory body for shipping. The Aspen Institute, through Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) will be working to share the lessons learned through ZEMBA’s tender process to support the IMO’s development of robust lifecycle assessment guidelines and mid-term measures that can close the cost gap for scalable ZE fuels and accelerate their production and deployment.

According to a 2021 report by the Getting to Zero Coalition, green corridors are defined as "a shipping route between two major port hubs (including intermediary stopovers) on which the technological, economic, and regulatory feasibility of the operation of zero-emissions ships is catalysed through public and private actions." Other aspects of green corridors that have been identified by thought leaders include, but are not limited to, concerted efforts at emission reduction and the commercial operation of the first vessels powered by fuels that emit zero or near-zero greenhouse gases on a lifecycle basis. They are voluntary in nature, and can be coalitions of industry-only, government-only, or public-private actors working in collaboration. To be successful, they require both fleet and land-side solutions. The concept of green corridors were featured prominently during discussions at COP26, including through the Clydebank Declaration.

Green shipping corridors are important collaborative approaches to support the transition to ZE shipping at scale. They are intended to serve as a practical testing ground for coordination across a range of actors involved with the fuels, infrastructure, technologies, and policies required to enable ZE shipping to deploy successfully in specific geographies.

The vessel associated with ZEMBA’s inaugural tender will be operated on a round-trip route from Singapore, Singapore to Rotterdam, Netherlands, which is the home of an ambitious green shipping corridor initiative. coZEV and ZEMBA are actively working to determine how cargo owners can further support green corridor efforts.

The Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA) is a first-of-its-kind buyers group within the maritime sector with the mission to accelerate commercial deployment of zero-emission (ZE) shipping solutions, enable economies of scale for freight buyers and suppliers, and help cargo owners maximize emissions reduction potential beyond what any one freight buyer could accomplish alone.

ZEMBA’s mission is to accelerate commercial deployment of ZE shipping by enabling climate-leading cargo owners to achieve economies of scale and maximize emissions reductions beyond what any one freight buyer could accomplish alone. By working together, ZEMBA members are offering committed demand to build confidence among investors, carriers, ship owners, and producers of ZE fuels and renewable energy to invest in these solutions.

ZEMBA is an initiative of Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV) and facilitated by the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program. ZEMBA is incorporated as a non-profit entity in Washington, D.C.

The Aspen Institute alongside Amazon, Patagonia, and Tchibo launched ZEMBA in March 2023. Other members can be found on www.shipzemba.org.

For ZEMBA's first tender, ZEMBA members were corporate freight customers of the container shipping sector. ZEMBA was seeking bids from carriers or consortiums for emissions reductions associated with ZE shipping services to be deployed in the container segment.

Joining ZEMBA provides several short- and long-term benefits for companies committed to reducing their GHG emissions. These include:

• Greater emissions reduction impact: By coming together, ZEMBA members can have a greater impact than they could on their own, both in terms of supporting the establishment of a new ZE marketplace and reducing maritime emissions.
• Economies of scale: By collaborating on the forward procurement of ZE shipping through ZEMBA, cargo owners can leverage their collective purchasing power to obtain and lock in lower costs for ZE shipping than if they acted alone.
• Certainty: Supply of ZE fuels may be constrained in the early years as the market matures, potentially leading to challenges in securing emissions reductions and temporary cost increases before ZE fuel prices begin benefiting from scale and level out. Through ZEMBA, member companies can lock in supply and pricing, allowing them to better plan and budget in the near term and build the business case internally for paying a premium for ZE shipping services.
• Innovation: ZEMBA’s collective demand signal aims to drive innovation in the maritime and alternative fuel industries as carriers and other value chain actors seek to compete for customer demand by offering the greatest lifecycle emissions reduction at the lowest cost.

The shipping sector is responsible for nearly 3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Delaying action to address these emissions will almost certainly result in a ZE transition that is more disruptive and expensive for the entire value chain than if we act today to ensure a smooth and affordable transition.

Fuel production and maritime assets are long term investments, e.g., cargo ships built today may still be on the water beyond 2050. The maritime sector must dramatically increase investment in ZE solutions now if we are to have a chance of keeping the 1.5℃ Paris Agreement goals within reach. Derisking those investments through offtake commitments from freight customers is a key objective of ZEMBA.

Ambitious action is needed to catalyze the ZE transition. Solely focusing on short term efficiency measures or expanding use of high lifecycle emission “bridge” fuels will impede the development and deployment of the scalable ZE fuels needed to fully decarbonize the sector.

By acting collaboratively now through ZEMBA, cargo owner companies can support a competitive market for long term ZE solutions early in the transition. This will enable us to increase our chances of staying aligned with the 1.5℃ Paris Agreement goals and experiencing a smooth and affordable transition in the long run.

By brokering advanced market commitments, ZEMBA aims to support the business case for investment in steadily increasing ZE fuel supply.

The longer the maritime shipping sector waits to decarbonize, the more challenging and expensive it will be to meet the emissions reduction targets necessary to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change and meet ambitious corporate climate goals.

As ZE shipping services come to market initially, it is highly unlikely that these services will deploy exactly where and when each ZEMBA member company needs to move ocean freight. The ability to decouple physical freight movement from willingness to pay a premium for transparent, verified emissions reduction is essential to accelerate the transition in this sector.

The development of a rigorous, verifiable book and claim chain of custody system(s) will play a key role in accelerating the early phases of the clean energy transition in shipping and other hard-to-abate sectors. Such systems are under development by partner organizations now, as are efforts to ensure that credible scope 3 emissions reductions through such systems will be supported under various carbon accounting and target-setting frameworks.

ZEMBA members and Hapag-Lloyd are working with the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping and RMI on the development of their maritime book and claim system with the goal to use the MBC system to book and claim the emissions reductions from ZEMBA’s first tender and hopefully subsequent tenders as well.

It is important to note that this is NOT offsetting. Rather, these are in-sector investments in deployment of ZE fuels and technologies by supply chain actors within that sector to credibly reduce emissions and enable customers of that sector to help cover the added cost in return for due credit.