The Government has proposed to establish the National Centre of Excellence in Green Port and Shipping (NCoEGPS) recently. The Centre would aim to identify the technologies, alternative fuels, renewable energy sources and targets for the shipping and port sector to reduce GHG emissions in line with the Govt. of India commitment for the sector. The legal framework developed by the centre will support research and cooperation on green shipping and will aid to formulate policy that will best

suit the industry. The Center will work with all ports, shipping companies, and maritime states  to understand their problems and offer solutions based on research.

The broad focus areas of NCoEGPS are as follows:

1. Policy, Regulatory and Research
2. Human Resource development
3. Network- Key Partners and Strategic collaborators
4. Explore- Area of work, outcomes, projects and resources
5. Engage- Past events, upcoming events, dissemination

The Government has recently announced the establishment of National Centre of Excellence in Green Port and Shipping (NCoEGPS) which is India’s first CoE for Green Ports and Shipping. The Memorandum of Agreement was signed on November 18, 2022 between Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) along with Deendayal Port Authority, Kandla;Paradip Port Authority,Paradip; V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority,Thoothukudi; Cochin Shipyard Limited, Kochi& The Energy & Resource Institute (TERI).

The details of NCoEGPS are as follows:

• NCoEGPS will provide policy and regulatory support for developing regulatory framework and alternate technology adoption road map for Green Shipping to foster carbon neutrality and circular economy (CE) in the shipping sector in India.
• The NCoEGPS will be housed at and led by ‘The Energy and Resources Institute’ (TERI) as a knowledge and implementation partner.

India has been selected as pioneer lead country for International Maritime Organization Green Voyage 2050 Project which is funded by the Government of Norway. It assists developing countries in their efforts to reduce GHG emissions from ships. India has been selected by IMO Green Voyage to be the first country for piloting green shipping projects and coordinated by Directorate General of Shipping. Five projects were selected under Green Voyage 2050, out of which Assam Inland Water Transport development society (AIWTDS) was selected for passenger ferries procurement and involved development of alternate fuel solution in these ferries by IMO Green Voyage Team and Directorate General of Shipping. A working group has been established under coordination of Directorate General of Shipping and IMO Green Voyage 2050 team and includes members from World Bank and AIWTDS to find a suitable alternate fuel for such ferries and, availability and supply of such fuel in Assam and ship technologies for operation on such fuel in India.

The NCoEGPS will be housed at and led by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) as a knowledge and implementation partner. The Centre will be a host of several technological arms to support the port and shipping sector and will provide solutions to a variety of problems being faced in the industry through scientific research. It will also carry out valuable education, applied research and technology transfer in maritime transportation at the local, regional, national and International levels. It will focus on the following areas:

1. Energy Management – Energy management tools, waste energy recovery systems
2. Emission Management- Alternate, clean Energy/Fuel, emission control & monitoring.
3. Sustainable Maritime Operations – novel technologies and approaches

The other steps being undertaken are:

1. Government of India has permitted use of sustainable biofuels and its blends as fuels in Indian ships with the objective to reduce fossil fuel usage and to encourage renewable energy in ship operations.
2. As part of its digitalisation efforts for the maritime sector aiming at emission reduction, digital platform for the marine environment management for ships operating in Indian coast was launched. The digital portal facilitates the ships to have simple, paperless online reporting of fuel oil consumption, ballast water exchange and all pollution related information, including the ship generated marine wastes, single use plastics, etc.
3. The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has recently published an all- encompassing Maritime India Vision 2030 document.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Speaking at the Vizag Enterprise R&D roundtable meet organised by the SCCI here on Tuesday, Mr. Sreenivas spoke on the topic of Atma Nirbhar in Defence Systems, where he made a presentation on a methodology and roadmap for achieving advanced technologies and innovations in the defence.

Electric tugs

While explaining importance of green ports in the world, he presented the case study of ongoing efforts towards creating green ports by Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam. A key component of green ports is the use of electric tugs in ports.

Speaking on the occasion, Gopi Kumar Bulusu, Chair at SCCI, estimated that over the next five to 10 years around 50 such tugs are needed in Visakhapatnam alone and the national demand is well above 1,000 tugs. The market for these exceeds ₹1.0 trillion over the 10 year period.

“Green ports is a ₹50,000 crore opportunity for Andhra Pradesh in the next five years,” according to Mr. Bulusu.

Mr. Bulusu said that Reserve Bank of India in its recent review of state finances identified proactive support for R&D by the State governments as the main way forward for sustainable economic development in India going forward.

With a view to identifying a ₹1,000 crore opportunity every eight to 12 weeks, SCCI has now started organising a regular roundtables titled ‘Vizag Enterprise R&D Roundtable.’

Nearly 15 researchers, supply chain professionals, professors, technologists and government officers attended the event.

Participants exchanged views and spoke about their initiatives. Suresh Batha, Additional Director, STPI, explained about the STPI’s centres of excellence around the country and the Kalpataru Industry 4.0 centre of excellence setup by STPI in partnership with RINL, Vizag.

There was fruitful exchange of knowledge and views by various other participants from GMR IT, Gayatri Vidya Parishad, Sankhya Technologies, Dreamchip Electronics and ICICI bank.

As India strives to achieve its net zero emissions target by 2070, green hydrogen is considered a key in decarbonizing the economy, thereby improving the environment. Green hydrogen is produced using renewable electricity by splitting water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

Most of the hydrogen used today utilises high carbon sources like hydrogen extracted from coal using a gasification process is brown hydrogen, extracted from natural gas using methane through a steam reforming process is grey hydrogen, and when carbon generated from steam reforming is stored underground through industrial carbon capture it is labeled as blue hydrogen.

Bringing the shift from grey/blue hydrogen to green hydrogen is the need of the hour. The hydrogen demand in India is eight million tonnes of hydrogen (Mt H2) in 2022, an increase of seven per cent from 2021 due to recovery in the refinery and steel sector, as they were hit hard due to the 2020 pandemic (International Energy Agency).

The hydrogen demand is expected to grow fourfold by 2050. Currently, over 95 per cent of the current hydrogen demand is fossil fuel-based, and very little is green hydrogen. To meet this growing demand, it is important to shift towards cleaner production, i.e., green hydrogen. This transition Modi’s 8 years in power: India story back on track will have a significant cumulative reduction of 3.6 giga tonnes of CO2 in India between 2020 to 2050, which can translate into $246-$358 billion cumulative net energy savings between 2020 to 2050 (Niti Aayog).

India already announced the National Green Mission in August 2021 to increase green hydrogen use. The mission is followed by the Green Hydrogen Policy to achieve the target of five million tonnes of clean fuel by 2030. India will need around 115 GW of installed renewable power and 50 billion liters of freshwater production to achieve this target.

In Budget 2023, the Government has approved an outlay of Rs 35,000 crore towards green energy and an additional Rs 19,700 crore towards a green hydrogen mission to reduce dependency on fossil fuel. According to the IRENA 2022 report, more than 1500 green hydrogen projects were globally announced by June 2022. Many private and publicly owned companies in India are investing in green hydrogen projects. Further, India has also signed an agreement with Egypt to invest $8 billion in the Suez Canal Economic Zone to produce 20000 tons of green hydrogen annually.In 2016, the Government introduced Project Green Ports to make India cleaner and greener. However, till today little progress has been made in this project.The challenge remains in preparing existing ports to reduce fossil-fuel-related activities and increasing the production and handling of renewables, among which green hydrogen. According to the Maritime India Vision 2030 Report, the Government plans to increase the share of renewable energy from current levels of less than 10 per cent to over 60 per cent by 2030.

The first key challenge in producing green hydrogen is the considerable cost difference between green and grey/blue hydrogen. The production of green hydrogen is two to three times higher than grey/blue hydrogen. Green hydrogen costs are mainly determined by electrolysis and electricity costs. The cost of hydrogen from electrolysis is between $4.10/kg – $7/kg depending on various technology choices. The electricity costs of solar and wind are levelized. Further, EU Bank will provide $1.1 billion to develop green hydrogen hubs in India to reduce the costs of green hydrogen. Thus, it is expected that there will be an increase in fossil fuel costs and a decrease in green hydrogen costs by 2040.

The Government needs to reduce GST to 5 per cent and impose duty waivers to promote green hydrogen adoption in India. The second challenge is the limited amount of renewable energy (wind, solar) and the need for more research and development. The third challenge faced is the need for land available for producing electrolysers and storing equipment, such as compressors, rectifiers, dryers, cooling water towers, etc., in the port area. The fourth challenge is that hydrogen is highly flammable and volatile, and wide-ranging safety measures are required to prevent leakages. The fifth challenge is poorly developed pipeline networks and poor logistics infrastructure.

The action should be undertaken to develop standards and labels for green hydrogen and hydrogen-embedded products like green steel and green ammonia. The govt needs to explore promoting green hydrogen exports through a global hydrogen alliance. The government should formulate the second phase of the national policy, and states should launch their own policy to complement efforts at the national level. A delay in acting could lead to India missing out on an ample opportunity.

(Charu Grover Sharma is assistant professor, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade; Yashobanta Parida is assistant professor, FLAME University)

Sulphur will be cut drastically from global shipping transport fuels in 2020, in a move that should reduce some forms of air pollution, and may help towards tackling the climate emergency – but it could also lead to a rise in the price of flights.

From 1 January 2020, ships will only be allowed to use fuel oil with a very low sulphur content, under rules brought in by the International Maritime Organisation. This cut in sulphur content has been more than a decade in the planning, and almost all shipping around the world is expected to comply, or face penalties.

“Member states, the shipping industry and fuel oil suppliers have been working for the past three years to prepare for this major change – I am confident that the benefits will soon be felt and that implementation will be smooth,” said Kitack Lim, the secretary general of the IMO. “This [is a] hugely important change which will have significant positive benefits for human health and the environment.”

The new regulations are aimed at cleaning up sulphur emissions, which can cause acid rain and other forms of air pollution, rather than tackling the climate emergency. However, the dirty forms of fuel that contain high levels of sulphur are usually higher carbon too, and the costs of cleaning up sulphur may spur shipping companies to become more efficient in their fuel use, which would cut greenhouse gas emissions directly.

Moving to cleaner fuels could add substantially to costs, from an estimated $400 (£303) a tonne for fuel oil today to as much as $600 a tonne, according to the International Chamber of Shipping. Higher shipping costs may be absorbed throughout the manufacturing and transport supply chains.

The cost impact may also spread beyond shipping, according to the energy analyst firm Wood Mackenzie. “Knock-on effects from the cap on sulphur emissions in marine bunker fuel could even wind up giving you a more expensive plane ticket in 2020,” the company said.

The IMO estimates that the new limit – of 0.5% sulphur content compared with the previous limit of 3.5%, enforced under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ships – will cut sulphur oxide emissions from ships by 77%, an annual reduction of about 8.5m tonnes.

Fuel oil for shipping has long been one of the dirtiest forms of fossil fuel, made up of the sort of low-value and cheap crude oil that is unsuitable or expensive to refine into high-grade products such as petrol for cars, or kerosene for planes. Ship engines have been designed to cope with such low-grade fuel, and the emissions they belch out as a result mostly happen far from land, making the accompanying pollution less visible and, for many decades, largely ignored by governments.

But the damaging effects of the pollution have grown as globalisation has led to a massive increase in shipping transport. Shipping consumed about 3.8m tonnes of fuel oil a day in 2017, according to Wood Mackenzie, equivalent to half of global fuel oil demand. Carbon from shipping makes up about 3% of global total carbon emissions, but is expected to rise to 17% by mid-century. Fuel oil with a high sulphur content produces sulphur oxides, which can cause acid rain and particulate pollution.

Alternatives to low-grade, high-sulphur fuel oil are increasingly available, albeit at a higher price. Liquefied natural gas is still a fossil fuel, but much cleaner, and infrastructure allowing its use is becoming more widespread. Biofuels are also being explored as an alternative – one enterprising cruise company is using fish guts for its fuel – and there are high hopes for harnessing hydrogen fuels in the form of ammonia for ship engines.

Vessels can also be fitted with “scrubbers” to remove sulphur, though some of this is then released into the sea as effluent. Ports have also become increasingly concerned at the pollutants from cargo and passenger ships, and some operate zones where sulphur content is even more drastically reduced.

Shipping is subject to complex international regulation, overseen by the IMO, the London-based UN body. However, for historic reasons, it has been excluded from calculations of international greenhouse gas emissions, and thus exempted from governments’ obligations under UN climate agreements, including the landmark Paris accord of 2015.

That has meant shipping companies have felt less pressure to cut carbon, and progress on all forms of shipping pollution has been slow and often tortuous. The new sulphur regulations were first enacted by the IMO in 2008, after years of debate, but had to be re-confirmed in 2016 before finally coming into force on Wednesday.

Climate change campaigners want to see much faster adoption of regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The next major public meeting will be an IMO conference in London in late March and early April, where countries will come under pressure to lay out a clear plan on cutting carbon from the sector, ahead of a major UN climate conference in Glasgow in November.

The IMO has a longterm aim to halve carbon from shipping by 2050, but few concrete plans to achieve it. An increasing number of countries, including the UK, are aiming for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with scientific warnings on the urgency of the climate emergency.

The ICS has also proposed a $2 a tonne levy on shipping fuels that would pay into a fund for research and development on zero-carbon forms of shipping, which will be explained to member states at the spring IMO conference, but could take years to come into force.