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isting industry analyses.

Fundamental to this process is exploring ways to speed up the adoption of low-carbon and non-conventional power solutions such as electric batteries, fuel cells and hybrid options. This will include addressing the challenges related to the carbon content of each fuel; not all have recognized carbon factors, or references in EEDI regulation. The process will attempt to identify the most effective ways to integrate promising tech- nologies into the EEDI framework as they become available, and estimating the environmental impact of each.

Industry Consultation

The study’s requirements include an extensive consultation process with industry stake-holders, including equipment man- ufacturers, consumers, public authorities and NGOs, with feed- back informing proposals for the introduction and formulation of EEDI phase four.

Consultation tools such as questionnaires, interviews, expert panels, bilateral meetings conferences and workshops will be assessed for their ability to acquire a representative sample of stakeholder opinions.

This process is expected to include at least two workshops with administrators in order to build a consensus-based ap- proach to the fnal recommendations, with the results subject to statistical analysis for validation.

A Pathway for the Future

The present EEDI formula is comprised of many energy-eff- ciency solutions. The study will investigate how new technolo- gies and fuels could be adopted into the EEDI framework and contribute to the reaching the IMO’s carbon-reduction goals for 2030 and 2050.

Critical to this process is verifying the impact of each tech- nology or fuel, and whether phase three of the EEDI can in- corporate any new decarbonization solutions that are gaining traction in the industry.

The study will not change the EEDI, rather it will examine opportunities to reorient the Index towards the requirements of the new age of decarbonization. Through this process we hope to discover whether the EEDI is robust enough to adopt any proposed changes while retain-ng its mandate to improve the energy effciency of shipping and keep people safe.

The Author

Plevrakis

Georgios Plevrakis is the Director of Global Sustainability for ABS.

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