IMO agrees to implement efficiency ratings for global shipping, the first ever regulation of the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. Peter Boyd, COO Carbon War Room: “Today’s new standards if applied to all ships, not just newbuilds, would save the industry more than 220m tons of CO2 and $50bn a year. This is a historic move by the IMO but there’s a bigger environmental and economic opportunity out there that’s too good to miss.”

Friday, 15 July, London – Carbon War Room, the NGO aiming to unlock global gigaton scale greenhouse gas emissions reduction through entrepreneurial means, welcomed today’s announcement by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to mandate energy efficiency ratings for the international shipping fleet, which emits around 3% of global emissions, more than that of Germany.

The IMO resolution signals a key shift in the regulatory landscape of shipping, which has hitherto not required, even at the national level, any improvement in the sector’s footprint, currently growing at between 3% and 4% a year.

Peter Boyd, COO of Carbon War Room, said: “The IMO has an outstanding record in developing international agreements on safety and has drawn on this to make the first steps towards reducing the industry’s carbon footprint. We applaud the work of the Secretariat here in finding agreement in the international climate change debate.”

The Carbon War Room has consistently argued that widely available energy efficiency ratings offer a proven means of instituting best practice design in energy-intensive applications. In December 2010, the organization launched shippingefficiency.org <http://shippingefficiency.org> , which made energy efficiency ratings for the 60,000-strong ocean-going fleet freely available for the first time, using the IMO-developed methodology.

Peter Boyd added: “There is a $70bn subsidy for environmental improvement in shipping, called fuel savings from more efficient vessels. The IMO decision on new-builds should result in fuel savings of $5bn annually by 2020 (and CO2 reductions of over 20m tons). The real prize for the planet and profitability is in the existing fleet. Today’s new standards if applied to all ships, not just newbuilds, would save the industry more than 220m tons of CO2 and $50bn a year.  Chasing all profitable efficiency savings could save even more. This is a historic move by the IMO but there’s a bigger environmental and economic opportunity out there that’s too good to miss.”

Following today’s announcement, Carbon War Room will deliver a letter to IMO delegates calling for the mandatory use of energy efficiency ratings across the entire fleet, signed by 50 organizations, including owner-operators of 60 million tons-worth of vessels. Signatories include Denmark’s Maersk Line (containers) and TORM, Canada’s Teekay, America’s Heidmar (tankers) and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (ro-ro) of Norway/Sweden. German consumer electronics company Schneider Electric has also signed, along with the Port of Los Angeles and the NGO Forum for the Future.

By Catherine McMillan

February 28, 2011

Launched to much acclaim in Cancun, Shippingefficiency.org – the beta data-hub that hosts CO2 ratings for over 60,000 ships – attracted 30,000 unique visitors in its first month, and already has more than 2,000 registered users. The site targets ship owners, operators, charterers, ports, insurance companies, shipbrokers and other stakeholders, and aims to enable the shipping industry to factor efficiency information into business decisions through an easy-to-use, vessel-by-vessel ‘energy labeling’ system.

To mark the success of its launch, the shipping operation team held a free-access webinar for Europe, giving a practical guide on using the site on January 14. Senior Advisor for the Shipping Operation Alisdair Pettigrew, chaired the webinar and the Carbon War Room’s Chief Operating Officer Peter Boyd and industry expert John Lewis, Principle Marine Consultant at ES Link Services, guided participants through the website and the shipping operation’s wider initiatives.

Peter Boyd led with a 45-minute presentation outlining the initiative, followed by a panel discussion and Q&A to address the crucial role ShippingEfficiency.org has to play in disseminating benchmark information on vessel efficiency, The team then tackled some often hard-hitting questions sent in by industry participants in an in-depth 40-minute Q&A session.

The webinar was powered by 2Degrees and is available to view in full on www.shippingefficiency.org.

The shippingefficiency.org webinar series will continue with an event for US and the Americas in March. See www.shippingefficiency.org for more details.

By Suzanne Hunt

February 28, 2011

In late December, the Carbon War Room’s Aviation Operation ran a workshop in Hawaii during the Biotech Industry Association’s (BIO) Pacific Rim Summit. The convening brought together senior officials and procurement personnel from the US Navy and key stakeholders from all major parts of the renewable jet fuel supply chain, as well as the research community and various government agencies. The discussion centered on rapid, sustainable scale-up of advanced “drop-in” biofuels.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and the Navy, in particular, is rapidly becoming a transformational force in clean energy markets.  The Navy, for example, has set a target to meet half of all of its energy needs with non-fossil fuel sources by 2020; a target that includes nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, as well as advanced “drop-in” biofuels for ships and aircraft. Estimates suggest that this target translates into a need for approximately 8 million barrels of renewable fuels by 2020, and 64 million gallons of renewable fuels in Hawaii alone by 2020. 

Interestingly, many island states, like Hawaii, import all of their fuel, pay high energy prices, and are vulnerable to price and supply fluctuations. Yet islands also tend to possess abundant wind, sun, and other renewable resources, which makes them ideal testing grounds for new renewable fuel technologies that are more cost effective than high priced imported fossil fuels. Several algae and other advanced biofuels pilot projects are now underway in Hawaii. And here’s a tip: the state energy agency presently has a request for proposals (RFP) out for renewable fuels produced locally. 

We took advantage of the BIO Pacific Rim Summit and spent a day discussing the barriers to sustainably producing renewable fuels at commercial scale; strategies for removing the barriers; and the implementation timeline. The event proved insightful and useful for all parties, and marked the beginning of a process to commence operations in Renewable Fuels at the Carbon War Room. The key barriers identified were:

• practical sustainability assurances for the industry, as it scales up
• the USA’s Defense Logistics Agency – Energy’s (DLA-Energy) present inability to carry out long-term contracting for renewable fuels
• finance (i.e. availability and access to project finance)
• harmonization of greenhouse gas regulations and other policies

In response, the solutions going around the table included:  price risk sharing, long-term and consortium contracts, and sustainability assurance schemes, like the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels.

In 2011, the Carbon War Room’s Aviation & Renewable Fuel Operation will be working hard to further this discussion and focus on helping renewable fuels get a foothold in the market place, and scale-up rapidly and sustainably.

By Mark Grundy

February 28, 2011

The monthly digital-only financial title will launch on May 3 at Creating Climate Wealth Summit, DC and will be available to a select group of C-suite executives in Europe, USA and Asia. The title will have an exclusive distribution into the heart of key decision makers at some of the world’s most progressive companies, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. The magazine will be produced in multiple formats for subscribers through online, iPad, Tablet and smart phone editions.

With an initial 167,250 readers per month, we want Creating Climate Wealth to become the leading green business digital magazine distributed directly to entrepreneurs and C-suite executives using Carbon War Room’s membership database and become available by subscription on iPad. Our readers are affluent, influential, decision makers, future shapers, international professionals and investors.

Creating Climate Wealth focuses on working with entrepreneurs and industry to reduce carbon emissions that make good business sense and benefit both the industry and the environment almost immediately. The magazine will focus on seven main sectors—Electricity, Transport, the Built Environment, Industry, Land Use, Emerging Economies and Carbon Management, and will  feature:

• regular news and event updates from Carbon War Room operations
• an in-depth look at Carbon War Room operations: shipping, energy efficiency and aviation
• thought-leadership from Carbon War Room founders, board members and C-suite
• research reports on gigaton-scale reduction opportunities and new clean technologies
• profiles on the latest and most promising clean tech investment opportunities
• and articles by some of the world’s best journalists on clean tech

Richard Branson will launch the magazine with an in-depth article on why he set up the Carbon War Room, and his vision for creating climate wealth and bringing economic prosperity to economies across the globe.

The first edition will incorporate the Creating Climate Wealth Summit program and be available in hard copy at the event.

Creating Climate Wealth Summit, Washington DC, May 3-4, 2011

Investing $1.3 trillion each year in green sectors would deliver long-term stability in the global economy, a new UN report has suggested. Spending about 2 percent of global GDP in 10 key areas would kick-start a global low carbon, resource efficient green economy.

Since the oil crises of the 1970s, billions of dollars have been pumped into technology development in the areas of energy efficiency, low carbon energy, efficient transportation, bio-fuels, and other areas. This investment has led to hundreds of breakthroughs that are today cost effective. Yet, full commercial utilization of these innovations and their financial rewards still elude us.

The 2011 Creating Climate Wealth Summit (www.creatingclimatewealth.com) series aims to fast-track this amazing wealth creation opportunity—one we can use to create economic growth, entrepreneurial wealth, well paid jobs, and make billion ton (gigaton) carbon reductions.

The North America Summit kicks off the series on May 3-4 with Creating Climate Wealth, DC – an invitation only event – providing a unique workshop-driven convening of executives, investors, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the private and public sector. The purpose is to identify specific US pathways to accelerate deployment of green solutions in the face of low expectations and weak mandates.

During the summit, delegates will address ways to bring existing technologies to scale, while meeting employment, economics and sustainability goals. The technologies are spread across seven clean tech tracks:

• Distributed Generation
• Energy Efficiency
• Island Nations
• Renewable Fuels
• Shipping and Freight
• Sustainable Agriculture
• The Future of Person Transportation.

Each working track begins ahead of the Summit with a Carbon War Room Research pre-read report on market barriers. Delegates will use their entrepreneurial expertise to problem-solve and technology expertise to build new approaches to delivering high-profit solutions.

• Full membership to the Carbon War Room
• Admission to 2 days of plenary and workshop discussion in one of the seven clean tech working tracks
• Access to leading clean technology finance, entrepreneurs and policymakers
• One year membership  of Carbon War Room’s online communities and operations
• One year subscription to the Creating Climate Wealth digital-only financial magazine 
• Invitation to the Climate Leadership Gala Dinner, 3 May, 2011 at the EPA Atrium, DC

Don’t miss other Creating Climate Wealth Summits in Sydney, Australia on 7-8 July and London, UK on 7-8 September.

For delegate registration: www.creatingclimatewealth.com

For sponsors: adavlin@carbonwarroom.com

For media and affiliate program: mwilson@carbonwarroom.com

A FREE webinar presentation and Q&A for ShippingEfficiency.org users

http://www.shippingefficiency.org/webinars-and-events

The Carbon War Room would like to invite you to join:

Peter Boyd, COO of the Carbon War Room, John Lewis, Principal Marine Consultant at ES Link Services and other panelists for a webinar presentation and Q&A for ShippingEfficiency.org users

This webinar follows the launch of the Carbon War Room’s website: www.shippingefficiency.org and has been established to provide a practical guide to using the website and its ratings of energy efficiency for over 60,000 international vessels.

This webinar will provide an opportunity for you to find out further information about this leading initiative and put any questions direct to the panellists in an interactive Q&A session.

Click the link below to join the debate on Friday 14th January, 11.00am GMT

http://www.shippingefficiency.org/webinars-and-events

Carbon War Room kicks off webinar and seminar series for industry on January 14

London,10 January 2011 – Carbon War Room, a not-for-profit organization targeting market-driven solutions to climate change, announced today the launch of a series of online and live seminars for shipping industry participants on its Shippingefficiency.org online service – launched at the UN climate change talks in December. By the end of 2010, the site had logged over 25,000 visitors, while over 1,500 users had registered to make full use of the online service. The seminars aim to respond to questions from the industry about the design of the service, and its use.

“We’re delighted by the response from the industry, but this is just the beginning,” said Peter Boyd, COO of Carbon War Room.

The aim of the new online data hub is to enable market participants to more easily factor in vessel efficiency to their decision making. By employing methodology and data already available (such as overlaying the European Union’s ‘A-G’ rating on the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index), shippingefficiency.org provides a commercially-focussed tool, operating independently to, and ahead of, the regulatory pathway.

Boyd added: “We spent time beforehand talking to various shipping-related stakeholders, and easy, free access to information on vessel efficiency is what they said they most needed to secure the triple win in shipping – reduced fuel burn, costs, and carbon emissions.”

Crucial to the philosophy behind the site, the efficiency ratings already recognise the differences in size and functionality of different ships. Boyd added “A container ship is as different from a ferry as a truck from a motorcycle, which is why we only compare vessels with their peers – not just within their class, but also only among ships of similar weight.”

Boyd continued that the team recognizes however that there is still substantial work to do on the EEDI. Carbon War Room and partners will update the site as the IMO improves the methodology; and as owners and operators move to having their vessel ratings certified by flag states or classification societies.

Since the launch of Shippingefficiency.org, a further ten companies have signed an open letter calling on IMO delegates to rapidly adopt the Energy Efficiency Design Index, and to apply it to the existing fleet; including ship operator Heidmar Inc. and environmental consultants Enecore Carbon. This brings the total number of signatories to thirty.

The first seminar will take place online on 14 January 2011 at 12pm Central European time and is open to all interested stakeholders. Parties can register for this at any time before the webinar at: http://www.shippingefficiency.org/webinars-and-events .

A schedule of further seminars – both physical and virtual – will be distributed shortly.

Testimonials on the site are available below. For media enquiries, please contact:

Peter Browning, Blue Communications

Peter@blue-comms.com

+44 7760 787 028

For Reference – Current testimonials on Shippingefficiency.org:

“Transparency on carbon emissions is essential for businesses to make decisions with consideration for the environment. Maersk Line recently became the first shipping line in the world to have its carbon footprint verified by an independent body vessel by vessel. We have decided to share this data with the Carbon War Room. Now everyone can see clearly how our vessels perform, both our customers and the general public. We welcome the new initiative on shipping transparency, and would encourage other shipping lines to share their data as well.”

Jacob Sterling, Head of Climate and Environment, Maersk Line

“Transparency and efficiency are the key drivers for reducing the carbon footprint of the global shipping industry. Shippingefficiency.org goes right to the heart of this challenge, and the sooner we get the full picture about exactly who is emitting exactly what, the faster the pace of change will be in securing a more sustainable shipping industry.”
Sir Jonathon Porritt, Founder – Forum for the Future / Sustainable Shipping Initiative, Former Chairman Sustainable Development Commission

“According to our analysis, the largest potential energy efficiency opportunity in the transportation sector where new financing models will make a difference is in the maritime shipping industry. This website is a great first step to address the market failures that will ultimately help mobilize capital to the sector.”
Nick Pennell – Vice President and Global Lead, Low Carbon & Sustainability, Booz & Co.

‘The shipping industry has an important role to play in reducing carbon emissions globally.  Being transparent in the context of operations and efficiency is an important factor in moving the industry towards meaningful carbon reductions and long term sustainability.  In view of this, shippingefficiency.org is a first step in the right direction.’
Dr. Simon Walmsley, Marine Manger, WWF-International

“”The means for making shipping environmentally-friendly and economically efficient are already available. They just have to be implemented, which is what the launch of shippingefficiency.org will help make possible.”
Stephan Wrage, Managing Director, SkySails

Over the past year, the CWR has been developing the strategy and laying the foundation for the upcoming Aviation Operation. The aviation sector currently represents ~2% of global CO2 emissions and ~3% of global warming impact and is projected to keep growing. With fuel representing a huge expense for airlines and other aviation fuel users (e.g. militaries and delivery companies like TNT and UPS), many aviation fuel users have already implemented an array of strategies for reducing fuel use and thus CO2 emissions.

New low-carbon biofuels could also help the aviation sector significantly reduce its CO2 emissions while providing enhanced energy and price security. However, as the powerful backlash to first generation biofuels demonstrated, in order for this new generation of fuels to earn public acceptance, strong, credible sustainability standards will have to be created.  In order for businesses to adopt these standards, they must be practical, workable, and affordable. Finally, in order for these standards to facilitate industry growth and not become a barrier to international trade, they must be truly international in nature.

While an array of sustainability schemes related to biofuels are under development, the only one that meets these criteria, and encompasses all feedstocks and all liquid biofuels for transport, is the one created by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB). The RSB has developed “a third-party certification system for biofuels sustainability standards, encompassing environmental, social and economic principles and criteria through an open, transparent, and multi-stakeholder process.” It is coordinated by the Energy Center at EPFL in Lausanne and is working with farmers, companies, non-governmental organizations, experts, governments, and inter-governmental agencies from all over the world.

As one piece of our broader renewable fuels strategy at the CWR, we have developed a strong partnership with the RSB to help ensure the sustainable scale-up of the advanced renewable fuel industry. “The CWR has been enormously helpful in introducing us to key market players and helping them understand our process and standards.” said Alwin Kopse who heads the RSB. “We are at a pivotal stage in the finalization of the standards, and the development of the certification body that will work with businesses who chose to adopt our voluntary standards,” said Barbara Bramble, the Chairwoman of the RSB’s Board of Directors, “and the CWR is a critical strategic partner for us.”

A recent  International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting saw continuing frustration for those seeking reductions in shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the best efforts of the chair of the environmental committee at the the UN body that regulates world shipping, no progress was made on plans to introduce an energy efficiency rating system for new ship designs.

Shipping is unfairly criticized as a laggard in the environmental stakes. But as the Carbon War Room’s campaign to speed up and expand ratings for all ships has shown, there are plenty of supporters among the big names in the industry— companies like AP Moller-Maersk, TORM, Teekay, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, Wartsila and the Port of Los Angeles. Great support also came from governments at the IMO meeting in London at the end of September.
The biggest opposition came from some developing nations who were jostling for position in advance of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks coming up in December in Mexico.

This serves to validate what many have always known: The IMO will be unable to make real strides on emissions until shipping’s role in global emissions talks has been agreed upon.

It is worth noting that no economy in the world will be disadvantaged by a system rating the efficiency of ships, since companies that want to buy less efficient vessels can continue to do so.

The benefit will be that with the information made public, searchable and easily accessible, companies that want to reduce their emissions (and cut their fuel bills) — particularly the shippers and charterers that pay for as much as 70 percent of the bunker fuel consumed by international shipping — will know which ships are more efficient. That capability currently does not exist, so those companies have to resort to guesswork.

The question we’re posing at the Carbon War Room is this: Does the world really need consensus at the IMO to get efficiency indexes to work?