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Carbon dioxide mitigation from public procurement with environmental conditions: The case of short-sea shipping in Norway

Elsevier, Maritime Transport Research, Volume 4, June 2023
Authors
Torvanger A., Tvedt J., Hovi I.B.

We investigate the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cuts for the Norwegian short-sea (domestic) maritime segments of express boats, offshore support vessels, and aquaculture support vessels in comparison to ferries in Norway. Public procurement conditional on climate-friendly operation is catalyzing a transition to battery-electric operation, where most ferries will be battery-electric or fueled by hydrogen by 2030. The comparison to ferries is performed with the help of a methodology inspired by the multi-attribute utility method, which contains 11 features related to technology, operation, and acceptance. This score is used to adjust the 70% CO2 emission reduction achieved by ferries. Based on this methodology, the CO2 emission reduction potential for express boats, offshore support vessels, and aquaculture support vessels is estimated to be 46%. Consequently, these short-sea shipping segments could reduce CO2 emissions by 0.8 million tonnes from 2017 to 2030, which is equivalent to 1.5% of Norwegian emissions in 2017. Norway's experience indicates that there is a sizable potential for reducing CO2 emissions for public procurement conditional on climate-friendly solutions for short-sea shipping in other shipping nations.