
Cargo Shipper Maersk Vows to Ship with Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050 - myinnerbanjo
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/736565697/giant-shipper-bets-big-on-ending-its-carbon-emissions-will-it-pay-off
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narnianal
"I vow to ship with -1 Carbon Emission by 40312." \- me

In case the sarcasm is too hidden: Now they won't. 2050 is way too far in the
future. The problem isn't if but how anyways. This article shouldn't be on the
front page.

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PhaseLockk
> The company already has cut emissions substantially, at the cost of $1
> billion so far. And it has an intermediate goal to cut emissions by 60%
> (relative to 2008 levels) by 2030.

> While 2050 might sound a long way away, ships are built to last for 20 to 30
> years. That means container ships that will be in service in 2050 will be
> hitting the oceans in just a few years.

These quotes from the article make it seem like there needs to be some fairly
drastic action in the short term which would demonstrate how serious they are.
The main suggestion for "how" seems to be biofuels.

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narnianal
Sorry, was busy with work a few days.

Well, the answer is not as easy as "biofuels". Where do the "biofuels" come
from (e.g. cow shit might have enough energy if filtered correctly, but we
already have too many cows on this planet with direct impact on the
environment)? How are the fuels processed? How much of the final output is
from device and material production and how much from actual usage? Think
solar power here. For quite some time (I hope not anymore) the emissions
produced while making solar panels was bigger than the savings the solar
panels generated.

So the problem is quite complex actually. It would really make sense to set
shorter intermediate goals and show how they can be accomplished in a
competitive market. If they become the goodest good guys and then lose for not
making a profit the world isn't better off either.

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mattashii
It is cool that they are actually planning for "Zero Emissions" as opposed to
just "Carbon Neutral" (which is also on their roadmap, but for 2030).

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bassman9000
Sails are coming back, I guess. Because nuclear would be The best choice for
these massive ships.

