Study Doubts Role of LNG as Future Fuel
A new report by the International Council of Clean Transportation has revealed that methane emissions would still double for shipping voyages in Europe by 2030 even if all fuel is renewably sourced.
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Source: Airbus
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According to the study, Europe would need to provide annual subsidies of about $17.8bn by 2030 to make renewable or synthetic liquefied natural gas marine fuels and conventional, fossil fuel supplies cheaper.
Shipowners might have to fork out as high as 10,000 euros per tonne for biomethane or 2,350 euros per tonne for e-LNG or e-methane by 2030.
This is between seven to 30 times more than the projected cost of fossil fuel equivalent in eight years’ time.
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The ICCT research also revealed that methane leaks in internal combustion engines powered by LNG still had considerable climate change impacts, even for renewably derived e-LNG fuels. It determined that in order to encourage any switch to renewable LNG, the price of carbon in Europe would need to increase nine times from its current level.
Methane emissions from shipping would still treble in Europe even if all LNG used for journeys came from renewable sources. Failure to fulfill international commitments to reduce methane would result.
The ICCT stated that while manufacturing synthetic drop-in e-diesel or e-methanol from either gasified biomass or electrolysed renewable electricity had similar production costs and technological limitations to LNG production, they were still preferable alternatives.
As shipping moves toward zero-carbon standards, LNG has been promoted as a so-called bridging fuel, drawing vehement opposition from international environmental organisations like the ICCT.
As the next step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in shipping, switching to so-called drop-in fuels such liquefied biomethane and e-methane, also known as e-LNG or synthetic LNG or methane, derived from renewable sources, is commonly advocated.
However, the council’s assessment finds that unless the European Union doubled current equivalent sector subsidies, projected European LNG supply from renewable sources by 2030 would be minimal and availability would be severely constrained.
“It is important for policymakers and all stakeholders to understand that other fuels could offer low life-cycle emissions without the methane problem,” the report said.
One Comment
Great video. I think I agree with this line of thought. Thanks?
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