The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and Equinor have announced a five-year Impact partnership, bringing together GCMD’s capabilities in conducting real-world maritime pilots with Equinor’s experience as a charterer, energy provider and developer of low-carbon solutions.
Together, the organisations will leverage their complementary expertise to help address technical and operational gaps in scaling alternative marine fuels and supporting the development and uptake of other maritime decarbonisation solutions.
GCMD’s work on alternative fuels, including biofuels, ammonia and methanol, focuses on two critical aspects of deployment: operational safety and robust monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV). Its pilots and studies are generating operational data to support safe bunkering and handling of these fuels. At the same time, its assurance work seeks to strengthen confidence in quantity, quality and GHG emissions abatement.
Equinor brings extensive experience as a vessel charterer and marine fuel supplier. This includes chartering dual-fuel LNG, LPG and methanol tankers, testing and using biofuels and supplying methanol to the maritime sector. Equinor is also piloting the use and supply of ammonia as a marine fuel, contributing to the development of associated safety, regulatory and bunkering arrangements.
Combining these perspectives can help address practical barriers to alternative fuels deployment while strengthening assurance across emerging marine fuel value chains.
Beyond alternative fuels, GCMD is working to accelerate the adoption of solutions that can reduce emissions from the existing fleet, including energy efficiency technologies (EETs) and onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS). GCMD’s work on EETs includes quantifying real-world fuel savings from technologies such as wind-assisted propulsion systems and developing financing mechanisms to scale their adoption. In OCCS, Project CAPTURED demonstrated an end-to-end value chain for onboard captured and liquefied CO₂, generating evidence that contributed to the recognition of captured CO2 under the EU ETS and in-principle support at the IMO for recognising carbon mineralisation as permanent storage.
Equinor brings long experience in offshore CO₂ storage, including its role in the development and operation of Northern Lights, the world’s first cross-border CO2 transport and storage facility, where liquefied CO₂ is transported by ship to an onshore receiving terminal before it is sent by pipeline for permanent geological storage beneath the North Sea.
Through the partnership, GCMD and Equinor will explore opportunities to combine their respective capabilities and experience to support the deployment and scaling of maritime decarbonisation solutions.
Professor Lynn Loo, CEO, GCMD, said: “We are excited about what this partnership with Equinor can unlock. Shipping’s transition will require a portfolio of decarbonisation solutions, and moving them from promising concepts and demonstrations to adoption at scale requires us to address the practical barriers that remain. GCMD is proud to join forces with Equinor to generate the operational evidence needed to close these gaps and build confidence in solutions that can deliver meaningful emissions reductions.”
Anne Mai Hatlem, SVP Marketing, Midstream and Processing, Equinor, added: “The maritime energy transition requires collaboration across industries and value chains, and we’re excited to join GCMD as an Impact Partner. Equinor brings expertise and practical experience from across the energy and maritime sectors, and we look forward to working with and learning from other industry partners. Together, we can help address barriers, improve understanding of emerging solutions and support progress towards lower-emission shipping.”
Image: Anne Mai Hatlem, Equinor, and Prof Lynn Loo, GCMD (source: GCMD)
