New research reaches some surprising conclusions about which propulsion systems might actually have the lowest carbon footprint. Theo Stocker digs into the numbers
A white sail on a blue sea. What could be cleaner than that?’ Sailing nerds might recognise this quote from the all-time greatest sailing film,Wind. Or maybe that’s just me. Anway, it’s easy to assume that drifting around with the breeze has little impact on the environment, let alone the global climate.
Certainly, the marine industry is tiny compared to other emitters of greenhouse gases, but it still registers on the scale. Recreational boats account for less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically 0.7% of transportation carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the United States and 0.4% of transportation CO₂ emissions in Europe. Those numbers sound small, but then consider that there are estimated to be 50 million recreational craft globally, with as many as one million new boats being added to that number every year.
New research has now been published by the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) as they seek to plot a way forwards for the leisure marine industry. The rather bleak headline is that if you want to move away from fossil fuel propulsion, you could easily generate a larger rather than smaller carbon footprint, whether you’re looking at biofuels, hydrogen, electric or hybrid propulsion systems. The good news, however, is that the devil is in the detail. Make a few compromises to things like range and performance, conduct an honest appraisal of how you actually use your boat, and utilise new and emerging technologies, and you can reduce your boat’s carbon footprint, whether you’re buying a new boat or not.
PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT
The Paris Climate Agreement, a legally binding international treaty that seeks to limit global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, requires signatories to reduce global carbon emissions by 43% by 2030.
While the marine leisure industry might be a tiny proportion of global emissions, it is still a contributor. Given recent protests against superyachts and the perception of sailing and boating as an elite, luxury pastime, ICOMIA wanted to be able to work with regulators to reach policy decisions based on data rather than emotions, assumptions or ideologies. There was, however, a ‘vacuum of data’ and while regulators, companies and customers were all trying to take positive steps environmentally, there was very little cold, hard evidence guiding them, leaving potential for
