7 green milestones in 2021

The Coalition for the Energy of the Future, of which technology group Wärtsilä was a founding member, has identified seven development projects for 2021. At the same time, the coalition welcomes three new corporate members, thereby expanding the original membership of 11 businesses to 14.

The projects to be worked on in cross-industry working groups during 2021 are; Green Hydrogen; New Biofuel for Maritime needs; Carbon-neutral LNG; Green Electricity; Zero Emissions; Digital Solutions; and Intermodal Green Hubs. The overall aim of the coalition is to define a clear pathway towards carbon neutrality.

“These projects are all areas that Wärtsilä is heavily involved in, and which align closely with the company’s Smart Marine and Smart Energy strategies. We fully support the aims of this initiative, and since collaboration is central to achieving real progress, we look forward to working closely with the other members for a cleaner and better future,” says Roger Holm, President, Wärtsilä Marine Power.

Launched in 2019 during the French Maritime Economy Conference, the programme has received the backing of French President Emmanuel Macron. The target is to achieve genuine technological breakthroughs with tangible results by 2030.

The three new members of the coalition are Airbus, Bureau Veritas, and PSA International. In addition to Wärtsilä, the original members are Amazon Web Services, Carrefour, CMA CGM Group, Cluster Maritime Franҫais, Crédit Agricole Corporate Investment Banking, Engie, Faurecia, Michelin, Schneider Electric, and Total.

2021 will be a structuring year for the Coalition and its cross-industry working groups with 7 projects to be developed:

1. Green hydrogen: capitalize on Carrefour projects Cathyope and H2Haul to experiment for the first time in Europe hydrogen-powered fuel cell long distance zero-emission trucks and propose a consolidated order book for goods’ transportation on French and European roads by end of the first semester in order to accelerate hydrogen availability,
2. Biofuel: propose and test the first bio-crude oil dedicated to maritime needs to increase the use of Biofuel along the supply chain and develop the use of 3rd generation biofuels,
3. Carbon neutral liquefied natural gas (LNG): draw a pathway for bioLNG toward carbon neutrality, highlighting key issues to be addressed,
4. Green electricity: identify & convert along the global supply chain the key elements (depots, terminals & warehouses…) into green self-sustained entities to accelerate the electric conversion in the transport chain,
5. Zero emission vehicles for road, air and sea transportation: share by the end of the first quarter of 2021 a common vision and roadmap to develop nnovative R&D projects around new energies such as Hydrogen or Ammonia,
6. Digital ecocalculator of the global transport chain: develop a digital eco-calculator certifying door-to-door CO2 impact on any given transportation routing as well as proposing low-emission alternatives,
7. Intermodal green hubs: propose a business plan to sustain port conversion into new green multimodal hubs using lower-impact routing with greener energy by end of 2021.