Propelling the maritime industry into a decarbonised future

Today, the maritime transportation sector almost exclusively relies on fossil fuels. Addressing the climate impacts of the industry requires unprecedented collaboration across sectors, industries, and geographies.

International shipping transports around 90 per cent of the world’s goods and is considered the most energy-efficient means of transportation. But burning an estimated 300 million tons of fuel annually makes shipping responsible for around 3 per cent of global carbon emissions. Even taking the planned decarbonisation efforts into consideration, this number will grow significantly towards 2050. However, it is possible to decarbonise shipping, and the industry has made a strong commitment to reduce CO2 emissions substantially.  

Headquartered in Copenhagen and established in 2020 with funding from the A.P. Moller Foundation, the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) is an independent, not-for-profit research and development centre that works with companies, governments, and organisations from across the globe to decarbonise the maritime industry.

The center was formed to accelerate the decarbonisation of the global maritime industry. The Center brings together experts from across the shipping ecosystem to push the development, commercialisation, and scaling of sustainable shipping solutions.   

The Center combines deep specialist knowledge with an industry-wide perspective to create a sector transition strategy and drive innovation of the solutions needed to accelerate implementation. 

No one player — no matter how large and influential — can make the transition happen alone. The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping facilitates the cross-functional collaboration to drive the collective action needed to reshape an entire shipping ecosystem. 

The centre delivers independent analyses on how the green shipping transition is progressing and clear, data-driven recommendations for accelerating maritime decarbonisation. Drawing on knowledge and data from partners across the maritime value chain, the centre is working to mature solutions for zero-carbon shipping, from fuel production to onboard solutions, regulations, and financing.

The concrete result of the centre’s work will be taking shipping’s part of global emissions from 3 per cent to 0 per cent by 2050 to make sure the maritime industry decarbonises fast enough to keep climate changes in line with the Paris Agreement targets.