Los Angeles - Shanghai Green Shipping Corridor

Los Angeles and Shanghai announced a partnership of stakeholders from across the shipping value chain to create a first-of-its-kind transpacific green shipping corridor on one of the world’s busiest container shipping routes.

Convened by c40 Cities and the Ports of Shanghai and Los Angeles, and in collaboration with industry leaders and the Aspen Institute's Shipping Decarbonization Initiative, facilitators of Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV), the partnership has agreed to work on an initiative to establish a green shipping corridor to decarbonize maritime shipping between the U.S. and China. The partnership intends to work together to achieve these goals by developing a “Green Shipping Corridor Implementation Plan” by the end of calendar year 2022 that will include deliverables, milestones, and roles for the partnership.

Through this effort, project partners will work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the movement of cargo between the cities of Shanghai and Los Angeles throughout the 2020s, including by introducing the use of vessels that operate with zero greenhouse gases on a lifecycle basis. Maritime decarbonization experts have identified a need for significant commercial deployment of zero-emission vessels and fuels by 2030 in order for the maritime sector to decarbonize in line with Paris Agreement goals. A recent analysis by the Global Maritime Forum explains how establishing voluntary public-private and cross-value chain coalitions through green shipping corridors can enable early adoption of long-term decarbonization solutions for international shipping, which is responsible for three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Through coZEV, multinational companies that rely on maritime shipping will be offered opportunities to contribute to the development and implementation of the Shanghai-Los Angeles green shipping corridor.

If your company is interested in getting involved in the development of a Los Angeles-Shanghai green shipping corridor, please reach out.

coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement

Through coZEV, a group of climate-leading cargo owner companies have come together to develop the coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement, in which they share their intention to use only zero-carbon ocean freight by 2040 and issue a call to policymakers to take action to support the clean energy transition in shipping.

An initial group of leader companies released the statement in October 2021. Setting a shared level of ambition sends an important demand signal for decarbonization and sets the stage for future collaborative work to help companies reach their ambitious decarbonization goal.

The coZEV 2040 Ambition Statement positions signatory companies as clear leaders in this space by:

• Stating a shared aim by a group of prominent multinational companies to decarbonize their maritime freight by 2040. Experts estimate this target date to be well aligned with a Paris Agreement 1.5°C trajectory and achievable
• Expressing a desire to see the entire maritime shipping industry decarbonized by 2050 at the latest
• Acknowledging that decarbonization of this sector requires a wholesale transition to shipping fuels that are zero-carbon from a lifecycle perspective, massively scalable, and economically viable

Next Steps

Additional collaborative actions and projects are under development. These will provide companies with concrete opportunities to shape the zero-emission shipping transition in ways that will help businesses achieve both their climate and logistical goals. Projects we are developing include:

• Cargo owner-support for the first zero-emission maritime shipping corridors, for example see Los Angeles-Shanghai Green Corridor Initiative above
• New mechanisms for bringing together collective freight demand and achieve economies of scale for zero-emission shipping
• Harnessing cargo owner voice to support public policies that will accelerate and lower the cost of the decarbonization transition
• Promoting new and improved tools for tracking shipping emissions data and fostering transparency

Stay tuned for future projects and initiatives organized by the coZEV initiative. Contact Us and learn more about how your company can get involved.