Liquefied natural gas (LNG), a fuel claimed to be greener than fuel oil and used by maritime carriers, is in fact more polluting than previously thought. This is revealed by a survey carried out by the NGO Transportation & Environment.
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Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is not the ideal green solution for shipping. It would in fact be much more polluting than it seems, according to the survey carried out by long Transportation & Environment. While investigating in the port of Rotterdam, she discovered that large quantities of methane were emitted by ships sailing on LNG.
According to the NGO, the methane escaping from the engines of boats using LNG has an impact 80 times greater than that of CO2. To observe this invisible gas, she used an infrared camera, placed in the port of Rotterdam. The images show a cloud which escapes in particular from the engine of a ship of the French carrier CMA-CMG, the Louvre, whose hull is entirely painted in green.
pure “grenwashing” for Delphine Gozillon, head of the NGO’s maritime office : “They are working to reduce their methane emissions, but the ship we are talking about is one of the newer ones, and yet we could observe that there were significant methane emissions”.
Yes Transportation & Environment raises the alarm is that discussions on energies in the maritime sector are currently underway at European level. And they could boost demand for liquefied natural gas, considered cleaner because it emits less CO2. But this remedy is worse than the disease according to Delphine Gozillon, who assures us that it is not “really not the time to invest in new gas boats as we try to keep our emissions at a level that is compatible with 1.5 degrees by 2050”.
The NGO defends the use of hydrogen, but also hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia for container ships over greater distances. The Member States of the European Union must decide on the subject of energy in maritime transport by June 2.