14 February 2024 (Lloyd' List) - SWITCHING to zero-emission fuels on green shipping corridors from ports in South Korea to Japan and the US could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 41.3m tonnes, according to a report by Solutions for Our Climate.

The South Korea-based organisation called for green corridors to link South Korea’s port of Busan with Tokyo and Yokohama in Japan, and with Los Angeles and Long Beach in the US.

The idea of green corridors to test and scale up zero-emission ship fuels, run ports on renewable energy, and mandate shore power for docked vessels gained popularity at the COP26 conference in Glasgow in 2021. 

The report said the three countries already had close trading ties, adding that South Korea was highly dependent on imports and exports.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from global maritime shipping will require coordinated multilateral commitments and actions,” SFOC shipping programme lead John Yum said.

“By leveraging the strong diplomatic and political partnership between South Korea, the United States and Japan, the three countries can kick-start the international effort to decarbonise the shipping industry.”

Yum added: “The green shipping corridor is about fundamental reductions leading to zero emissions in the shipping routes, rather than offsetting mechanisms, and shifting away from the existing fossil fuel-based solutions.”

The report said the fate of green corridors would be uncertain if they were left to depend on just the business case. Building and maintaining the corridors would require political determination and diplomatic co-operation.

South Korea is in talks over green corridors with the US, Singapore, the UK and Australia. The report said combining the talks would improve their prospects.

Singapore and Japan agreed in December to work on a green shipping corridor and earlier in 2023 signed a similar deal with the Port of Rotterdam. China’s Shanghai port and the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are also working on a transpacific green corridor.

The Global Maritime Forum’s latest update on green corridors at the end of 2023 found that the number of green corridor initiatives around the world more than doubled from 21 to 44 over the past year.

Progress on plans announced in the past two years has been slow and questions remain about how to pay for them.