A new multi-stakeholder, anti-LNG campaign is holding up shipowners such as French line CMA CGM and energy major TotalEnergies as examples of companies which it says are “greenwashing LNG as a ‘clean’ shipping fuel” ahead of the International Maritime Organization’s 26 June meeting.
The Say No To LNG campaign, which is funded by the ClimateWorks Foundation, said it is “imperative” that delegates to the IMO meet to ensure that methane — which has a higher but shorter-lived global warming potential than CO2 — is included in the IMO’s climate targets.
The group blamed what it described as “short-sighted shipping companies” and “war-profiteering fossil fuel executives” for pushing government representatives at the IMO meeting in March 2023 to focus only on CO2 emissions and disregard methane.
It referenced a report by environmental campaign group Greenpeace, which said the gas industry and governments had capitalised on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and locked Europe and the US into fossil fuel reliance.
The campaigners highlighted what was described as concerning links between the invasion of Ukraine and soaring profits for energy giants such as TotalEnergies and major shipping companies as CMA CGM.
“These corporations are actively promoting and greenwashing LNG as a ‘clean’ shipping fuel across multiple industries, including maritime shipping,” the group said.
It flagged up CMA CGM’s record net income of $25bn in 2022.
“CMA CGM has championed LNG as its ‘green flagship, signing a 10-year agreement with TotalEnergies to supply LNG fuel for future container ships destined for the Marseille-Fos Port in France,” the group said.
“It is crucial to acknowledge that using LNG as a marine shipping fuel will have an insignificant impact on short-term greenhouse gas reductions.”
The campaign group also slammed investment in new LNG carriers, highlighting the record number of vessels ordered in 2022, and said these risk becoming stranded assets.
“The shipping industry could suffer a potential loss estimated between $141bn and $232bn, or 15% to 25% of their value, as a result of investing in LNG ships,” it said.
Instead, the group wants shipping companies to invest in operational and energy efficiency solutions to help limit global temperatures rising to 1.5°C, or lower, as set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
It said the shipping sector’s climate impact must be halved by 2030.
“This will require transformative and sustained change across the industry, but we possess the tools to make it happen now.”
It urged IMO member states to set “an ambitious and comprehensive target for 2030” and “steer clear of adopting false climate solutions like LNG”.
Say No To LNG global campaign director Elissama Menezes said: “With the crucial IMO climate discussions approaching on 26 June-7 July, the global shipping community must support ambitious emissions reductions by 2030 and 2040 in order for the world’s shipping GHG strategy to achieve decarbonisation before 2040.”
