Screening of sustainable zero-carbon fuels
– a part of the development of a Nordic Roadmap for the introduction sustainable zero-carbon fuels in shipping
The Nordic Roadmap aims to accelerate the transition to zero-carbon fuels by reducing the key barriers to their uptake. The term sustainable zero-carbon fuel is used to indicate fuels with potential zero climate impact throughout their lifecycle. The main objective of this report is to screen and provide a scorecard for the most promising sustainable zero-carbon fuels in a Nordic perspective, including identifying barriers and development needs. This report can be used as a standalone knowledge base, but also serve as an initial screening to identify and select the most relevant fuels for the in-depth analyses also carried out in the Nordic Roadmap project. The selection of fuels does not intend to pick “winners” but is based on a holistic review of the respective fuels’ potential impact on the Nordic ship traffic, the potential to become zero-carbon in a life cycle perspective as well as task specific barriers identified at the current stage of the project. Hydrogen and Ammonia were preselected by the Nordic Council of Ministers, while the third fuel was to be selected in this task. Our analysis supports the Council’s assessment and identifies Methanol as the third focus point going forward.
Our analysis shows that a broad range of fuels will be needed on the path to a fully decarbonized Nordic shipping industry. However, three fuels stand out, based on the assessment conducted: Hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol. These fuels are identified as the most promising with regards to becoming zero-carbon in a life cycle perspective. They can also cover a significant share of the Nordic fuel consumption, fuel prices are expected to be favourable compared to other low carbon options, and they are all relatively mature from a technical perspective. Still, there are several barriers that need to be addressed both onshore, onboard and with regards to the maturity of rules and regulations.