Written evidence provided to Environmental Audit Committee

Matthew Ives, Lukas Larsson and Alex Clark have provided evidence to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. The Committee's inquiry on net zero aviation and shipping will look at the ability of technologies, fuels and operational efficiencies to reduce both sector’s emissions and what Government action is needed at a national and international level to meet its stated targets.

The evidence highlights that  while international marine transportation needs to decarbonise, and no clear strategy for doing so yet exists. However several technologies are strong candidates for shipping decarbonisation, and are at various stages of maturity in terms of development and adoption

For zero-emissions shipping technologies to become commercially viable, greater regulatory support and a step change in financial investment is required. The authors believe that facilitating private investment into zero emissions shipping technologies is essential to the viability of clean shipping fuels at scale but this needs both economic and legal feasibility as well as buy-in from key stakeholders.

They reference their recent report which proposes the use of a Contracts-for-Difference (CfD) scheme to encourage private investment and innovation in the development and uptake of technologies and fuels for zero-emissions shipping. This report also unpacks the important design and implementation decisions with feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, and provide initial legal documentation based on their findings,drawn up by legal experts Pinsent Masons.