The UK Climate Change Committee releases Carbon Budget 7, setting out a balanced pathway for marine, maritime and shipping to achieve Net 0.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) established under the UK Climate Change Act 2008, is the UK’s independent adviser on tackling climate change, it advises the UK and devolved governments on reducing emissions, adapting to the impacts of climate change and proposes pathways to reach net zero by 2050. The CCC's proposals include 5 yearly carbon budgets with a balanced pathway for reducing emissions.
Carbon Budget 7 (CB7) was released on February 26th and sets the emissions reduction pathway for the years 2038 to 2042, included in CB7 were the first CCC proposals for the decarbonisation of Marine, Maritime and Shipping including Inland waterways and Leisure which is dealt with as a particular subsection.
Under the CCC balanced pathway for shipping set out in CB7:
“By 2050 in the Balanced Pathway, half of the inland waterways and leisure vessel fleet decarbonises by switching to electric drive – technology which is already being deployed today. The other half of this fleet switches to biofuels.”
Biofuels have therefore been identified as a means of decarbonising our sector, “Biofuels are used to reduce emissions from some existing inland waterways and leisure vessels with long lifetimes, where they can act as ‘drop-in fuels’ in existing engines, with no or limited modification”, they do not feature in other segments of the shipping sector.
Significantly for the leisure marine sector the climate change committee has recognised the importance of biofuels in its decarbonisation pathway, with what is expected to be a very limited amount at this type of fuel available, having the Climate Change Committee recognise the importance of access to this fuel is a significant step forward in securing a long-term future for the leisure marine industry.
In addition to the recognition of Biofuels being an integral component to the leisure marine decarbonisation pathway the Climate Change Committee priority recommendations to the UK government in CB7 include to "ensure there are incentives and infrastructure for decarbonisation of all vessel types – from private leisure vessels to large-scale freight ships." giving further support to British Marine's industry priorities:
- Stimulate the e-propulsion market through targeted financial incentives
- Up-scale the production of sustainable technologies through more targeted research and development funding
- Encourage marine facilities to install local sustainable energy infrastructure by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning system
- Encourage marinas to invest in e-charging infrastructure by removing regulatory barriers
British Marine Industry Priorities 2024-2029
British Marine was instrumental in making sure the Climate Change Committee had the relevant information they needed in order to make these decisions, this information came from the work British Marine and a small number of its members, including Princess Yachts, carried out supporting ICOMIA and international partners in the project “Pathways to Propulsion”, the projects final report provided the environmental evidence base to show the importance of alternative fuels as part of the sectors long-term decarbonisation pathway, this report was submitted as evidence to the CCC, ensuring that the existing leisure fleet can continue to be enjoyed long into the future and those hard to decarbonise vessel types we have time to find suitable alternative low carbon solutions.
These long term projects are the type that only British Marine, working with international partners, can undertake and they are essential to the long term success of the industry.
Currently British Marine is working with a small number of members supporting the Blue Boat Horizon project, the EBI, ICOMIA and the NMMA project developing the first industry developed methodology for Life Cycle Assessment that will be needed by businesses to meet the next generation of EU and other nations environmental product legislation.