Report: Korea-US-Japan green shipping corridors can lead to significant environmental impact
- Published
by Admin
Korea-based non-profit organisation Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC) on Tuesday (13 February) said creating green shipping corridors between South Korea, the United States and Japan’s top two busiest routes – Busan-Tokyo and Yokohama; Busan-Los Angeles and Long Beach– can reduce up to 41.3 million tCO2 each year.
This is equivalent to annual emissions from over 9 million passenger vehicles in the United States.
“We evaluated the anticipated impact of several proposed KoreaUnited States-Japan green shipping corridors involving ports of Busan (KRPUS), Incheon (KRINC), and Gwangyang (KRKAN) —South Korea’s three major container ports,” SFOC said in the report.
Each of the three South Korean ports will have the most significant environmental impact if connected to ports of Tokyo (JPTYO)/Yokohama (JPYOK) in Japan and ports of Los Angeles (USLAX)/Long Beach (USLGB) in the United States.
“If container ships that travel KRPUS – JPTYO/ JPYOK and KRPUS – USLAX/USLGB are converted to zero emission ships, we can expect significant reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions, approximately 20.7 million tCO2 and 20.6 million tCO2, respectively,” it added.
Accordingly, reducing GHG emissions in the global maritime shipping will require coordinated multilateral commitments and actions.
The green shipping corridor initiative is a global effort to align the shipping industry with the 1.5°C trajectory. It aims to:
- Create maritime routes in which mainly zero-emission ships travel
- Run ports with 100 percent renewable energy
- Enforce mandatory use of on-shore power for docked vessels.
“With increasing global shipping emissions, green corridors are key to decarbonising the sector,” SFOC said.
“Our latest report on green corridors comes on the heels of South Korea and the United States’ announcement to work together to implement cross-country green shipping corridors between several of their key ports.”
Photo credit: Solutions for Our Climate
Published: 14 February, 2024
