Decarbonising shipping requires system-level innovation and close, cross-industry collaboration. Cross-industry partnerships and collaboration forums are crucial in accelerating the transition to a greener shipping sector, and our participation in them are testament of our commitment to the cause. We are actively engaged in many of the critical conversations aimed at accelerating change across the sector.
Anglo American is a founding signatory of the Sea Cargo Charter (SCC). The charter encourages industry participants to adopt a standardised accounting framework to ensure consistency, data quality and transparency via the publishing of reported emissions for a calendar year. This ensures that we – as well as our customers – can be confident of the carbon data associated with the voyages we operate. It also ensures that we continuously calibrate our approach to meeting the IMO regulatory targets annually.
Annual Disclosure Report 2022
Annual Disclosure Report 2023
Coordinated by the Global Maritime Forum (GMF), this industry consortium brings together multiple parties to unlock new opportunities for South Africa’s sustainable development and contribute towards a zero-emission maritime system. Anglo American was the first mining company to join GMF as a partner member and together with consortium members, we will look at bunkering and offtake arrangements, available green fuel supplies, as well as financial and business model alternatives to shape the future of global seaborne trade.
Read more here.
Anglo American has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd (“K” LINE), a global leader in the maritime transport industry. This partnership establishes the working committee for collaborative research on decarbonisation. Through the sharing of research and ideas and the utilisation of both parties’ knowledge of new marine technology, alternative fuels and other fields that have the potential to grow in the near future, we will work towards our common goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Press release.
Alternative marine fuels have an important role to play in the decarbonisation journey, with a number of potential options being explored – from liquefied natural gas (LNG) and biofuel, to hydrogen and ammonia.
Compared to conventional fuel options, liquefied natural gas (LNG) can reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 35%.
In addition to CO2 reductions, LNG also eliminates sulphur oxides, and considerably reduces nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from vessel exhausts – with the uptake of bio-LNG and continued developments in synthetic LNG representing the potential for more ambitious outcomes in future.
LNG also has the advantage of being readily available and benefits from an established network of existing infrastructure on key trading routes.
Recognising the potential for near-term emissions reduction offered by LNG, Anglo American has announced the introduction of its new Ubuntu chartered fleet, 10 newbuild LNG-fuelled capesize+ vessels. The fleet will be equipped with cutting edge technology designed to eliminate the release of unburnt methane, also known as methane slip.
The transition to LNG also provides key opportunities for the deployment of bio-LNG, a biofuel with the same chemical composition of traditional LNG that has the potential to provide a fully renewable fuel source for the maritime industry.
The suitability of sustainable biofuel as an effective alternative to marine fossil fuel is being increasingly demonstrated through the growing number of tests and trials taking place across the industry.
By collaborating across the industry, we are exploring the introduction of innovative biodiesel blends to our own chartered fleet, in an effort to develop – together with like-minded players and institutions in the maritime space – a solution compatible with existing vessel engines and which therefore requires no infrastructure modification.
In June 2021, we successfully conducted our first trial of sustainable biofuel using a blend produced by converting waste cooking oil from Singapore’s food and beverage industry, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 5% compared with using 100% conventional marine fuel.
In early 2022, we completed a second trial, also in Singapore, this time using a blend of biodiesel with very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), the industry’s most widely used conventional marine fuel, demonstrating potential for sustainable biofuel to be used as a ‘drop-in’ fuel, improving its viability to help reduce emissions in the shipping sector.
We continue working with the relevant authorities and industry bodies to accelerate the introduction of sustainable biofuel blends.
Hydrogen and ammonia have a promising future. As an early supporter of the hydrogen economy, we have invested significantly in this space.
We are partnering with Hydrogenious Maritime AS to explore the use of innovative Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) technology. By chemically bonding hydrogen to a diesel-like liquid with a high-storage density, which can be stored under ambient conditions (pressure and temperature), this solution can help propel hydrogen’s viability for marine transportation.
Ammonia, which emits no CO2 when combusted, has potential both as a fuel in its own right and as a hydrogen carrier.
However, there is significant work that still needs to be done to ensure green ammonia is brought to market in a safe and sustainable way.
To examine its prospects, we are working with industry partners to study possible solutions for more widespread adoption.
