Cargo Owners for Zero Emissions Vessels (Cozev) has unveiled a plan to form a maritime freight buyers alliance.
The US-based shippers’ lobby will work with cargo owners to establish the Zero Emission Maritime Buyers Alliance (Zemba), with an inaugural group of freight buyers expected to join in 2023.
Plans are also afoot to form a cargo owner policy coalition and a green corridor advisory board.
The proposals are part of Cozev’s Roadmap to 2040, which was unveiled in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt alongside the COP27 climate talks.
Cozev — which is backed by the Aspen Institute think tank — argues that the measures will support commercial deployment of zero-emission shipping “beyond what any one freight buyer could accomplish alone”.
“Zemba will enable cargo owners to come together for greater impact and support accelerated deployment of scalable zero-emission solutions in a robust marketplace,” said Ingrid Irigoyen, director of the Aspen Institute Shipping Decarbonization Initiative.
A competition law-compliant process is under design to attract zero-emission cargo services for Zemba members by the mid-2020s.
Cozev will also launch a new cargo owner policy coalition in 2023, to propel the economic viability and scaling of zero-emission solutions.
This will provide a platform for climate-leading cargo owners to collaborate on maritime decarbonisation.
“The Cozev Roadmap to 2040 underscores that stronger policy support is needed to provide certainty for investment and scaling of zero-emission solutions on a Paris-aligned pathway,” said Katherine Palmer, shipping lead at the UN High Level Climate Champions.
Cozev also announced the formation of an advisory board to allow cargo owners to stay informed about and provide input to the growing number of green corridor projects around the world.
