The shipping industry bears an egregious carbon footprint, amounting to nearly 2 percent of total global emissions, about the same as the entire German economy.
In its efforts to clean up its act, the industry is preparing to move away from fossil fuels and is exploring using ammonia – the key ingredient in manure – as a cleaner fuel alternative to help the transition. When ammonia burns, it does not create carbon dioxide emissions.
One of the caveats is that making ammonia is in itself a CO2-laden process. But a new report coming from the Royal Society – the world’s oldest scientific institution – gives promising evidence that a cleaner, carbon-free way to produce the fertilizer will happen soon, either by trapping CO2 and burying or by creating ‘green’ ammonia.
The alternative fuel offers hope that, with innovation taking the helm in the fight against climate change, soon enough, the shipping industry will finally scrape off its dependence on dirty fossil fuels.
