Understanding decarbonisation: Turning challenges into opportunities

Located in the unique and vibrant Principality of Monaco, this high-level one-day forum will bring together industry experts, regulators and thought leaders to examine what sustainability means for the shipping industry’s evolution and how it will inform the strategies and goals of all maritime stakeholders.

With its headline theme of ‘Understanding Decarbonisation: Turning Challenges into Opportunities, the conference sessions will focus on the impact on shipping of recent and upcoming global and European environmental regulation, the future fuel supply chain, the shipping technology ‘revolution’, corporate decarbonisation and ESG strategies, and how to access the finance needed to deliver the maritime sector’s energy transition.

Through a dynamic mix of panel discussions, case studies, and Q&A sessions, the Monaco Ship Energy Forum will explain how the challenge of decarbonisation could be the catalyst for the shipping and marine fuels sectors to take a global lead in both transporting and using the low and zero carbon energy sources of the future.

Programme overview

Welcome Address

Shipping market overview

Vessel segment developments, factors impacting global trade, the global vessel orderbook

Global energy outlook

Geopolitical factors, energy supply and demand balance, trade flows of alternative fuels (ammonia, hydrogen, methanol, LNG, etc) and how this will impact shipping routes

SESSION ONE: Navigating global and European environmental regulation

This opening session will look at the regulatory framework which underpins shipping’s energy transition. Speakers will offer an informed reading of the EU’s Fit for 55 measures, including the Alternative Fuels Directive and FuelEU Maritime. A key focus will be on the inclusion of shipping in the EU emissions trading system and how owners and charterers should prepare for and engage with this mandatory requirement to purchase allowances for GHG emissions.

Panellists will also discuss progress on regulation at IMO level, including compliance with CII and EEXI rules, the impact of the IMO’s revised greenhouse gas strategy agreed at MEPC 80 in 2023, and other key issues such as the introduction of other market-based measures, such as a carbon levy, new fuel standards and fuel lifecycle assessments.

SESSION TWO: Energising shipping’s new fuel supply chains

Topics for discussion in this session include timelines for the evolution of fossil-based bunker fuels to synthetic/e-fuels. Panellists will consider the supply-demand equation for the ‘green’ variants of biofuel, LNG, methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen and what the pricing structures/mechanisms for these new fuels are beginning to look like. They will also discuss the strategies of energy producers, the regional availability of new fuels, the development of bunkering infrastructure and the impact of these fuels on vessels’ trading patterns and bunkering schedules.

SESSION THREE: Pathways to zero: How are maritime stakeholders putting together decarbonisation strategies?

Shipowners, charterers, cargo owners and other stakeholders in the fuel value chain will drive this session by explaining the decisions and actions they are taking to accelerate the industry’s switch to cleaner fuels and new technologies. Topics for discussion will include vessel efficiency, carbon-offsetting/insetting, cost sharing, ESG policies, and how some maritime stakeholders are themselves investing in new energy start-ups and accelerators.

SESSION FOUR: How technology is rising to the ‘zero’ challenge

Participants will consider how new vessel designs and technology solutions are also driving shipping’s decarbonisation. Focus points will be engine developments, vessel and performance optimisation, wind assist technologies, fuel cell and battery propulsion, and the role of retrofitting in enabling the current fleet to be ‘fit for purpose’ in the near and longer term. The availability of finance for such efficiency ‘upgrades’ will also be considered.

SESSION FIVE: Delivering shipping’s decarbonisation: A question of acumen and skill

Key challenges in shipping’s energy transition include presenting viable business cases for alternative fuels and technologies, accessing funds, and upskilling the future workforce. The final session of the conference will look at decarbonisation business strategies and sources of traditional and alternative finance to support and realise these plans. Panellists will also look at training the workforce of tomorrow to meet the demands posed by new fuels for shipping, both onboard ship and landside.