At COP27, three more governments have endorsed the worldwide cross-sector initiative to catalyse the supply of green fuels, and support the global energy transition, which was initiated by the ICS and IAPH at the Clean Energy Summit in Pittsburgh last September.

Panama, Uruguay, and Norway have now signed up to the Clean Energy Marine Hub Initiative (CEM-Hubs)1.

This initiative, which is co-led by a taskforce of CEOs, is a cross-sectoral public-private initiative aiming to accelerate the production, export and import of low-carbon fuels across the world.

The three governments join the UAE and Canada, who were the first to join the CEM-Hubs initiative when it was announced in Pittsburgh.

According to news from IAPH the initiative will engage with industry stakeholders and governments to facilitate information and knowledge exchange on policies, programmes, and decarbonisation projects. This will, it is reported,  catalyse investments in the marine infrastructure needed to transport zero and low emission fuels from producer to consumer.

We learn that the initiative has the potential to de-risk investment and accelerate the commercial deployment and transport of alternative fuels, which are currently two to three times more expensive than fossil fuels.

The announcement came as part of the Green Shipping Challenge2 launch event at the world leader’s summit of COP27. Led by the United States and Norway, the Green Shipping Challenge aims to bring together governments, ports, maritime carriers, ship owners and cargo owners to find decarbonisation solutions for the industry.

1 https://sustainableworldports.org/canada-and-united-arab-emirates-first-to-back-maritime-sectors-green-fuel-initiative/

2 https://greenshippingchallenge.org/