Carbon dioxide mitigation from public procurement with environmental conditions: The case of short-sea shipping in Norway

Abstract

We investigate the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission cuts for the Norwegian short-sea (domestic) maritime segments of express boats, offshore support vessels, and aquaculture support vessels in comparison to ferries in Norway. Public procurement conditional on climate-friendly operation is catalyzing a transition to battery-electric operation, where most ferries will be battery-electric or fueled by hydrogen by 2030. The comparison to ferries is performed with the help of a methodology inspired by the multi-attribute utility method, which contains 11 features related to technology, operation, and acceptance. This score is used to adjust the 70% CO₂ emission reduction achieved by ferries. Based on this methodology, the CO₂ emission reduction potential for express boats, offshore support vessels, and aquaculture support vessels is estimated to be 46%. Consequently, these short-sea shipping segments could reduce CO₂ emissions by 0.8 million tonnes from 2017 to 2030, which is equivalent to 1.5% of Norwegian emissions in 2017. Norway's experience indicates that there is a sizable potential for reducing CO₂ emissions for public procurement conditional on climate-friendly solutions for short-sea shipping in other shipping nations.