LNG in shipping not much better for climate than heavy fuel oil – environmental group

With just one exception, all cruise ships operating in Europe are powered by heavy fuel oil, “the dirtiest of all fuels,” according to a new ranking from Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), the organisation writes in a press release. Newly-built AIDAnova will be the world’s first cruise ship able to run entirely on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is less polluting than heavy fuel oil, according to a separate press release from Zukunft ERDGAS. However, from a climate perspective, LNG is unattractive, NABU argues. “A recently published study of our umbrella organisation [Transport & Environment] shows that LNG brings no advantages regarding greenhouse gas reduction compared to diesel,” NABU Head of Transport Dietmar Oeliger says. Nevertheless, more shipping companies are switching to LNG propulsion in advance of the imposition of the International Maritime Organisation’s new pollution standards, to take effect in 2020, Zukunft ERDGAS writes.

Find NABU’S press release in English here and ranking in German here and Zukunft ERDGAS’s press release in German here.

For more information, read CLEW’s factsheet Germany’s maritime freight emissions and the dossier New technologies for the Energiewende.