Wentworth Confidential
Further Connections to Shipping
WCP’s Directors – who are brother and sister – have further deep family connections to the shipping industry. Their father was the first non-UK national to receive a master’s ticket and both parents worked in leading London shipowners. They then created the first shipping line for general (breakbulk) cargoes between UK / Continent and Persian Gulf, with the family of the late Shah of Iran. The company was nationalised by the Iranian Government but formed the foundation of Iran’s current shipping line.
Shipping Decarbonisation:
Key points from WCP's Review
Wentworth Clean Power have researched and created a detailed review relating to the decarbonisation of the international shipping sector, below are some of its key elements.
- The maritime industry is embarking on a major transition from conventional to zero or carbon neutral fuels, driven by pressure to decarbonise. This transition, necessitated by the effects of climate change and targets being implemented to combat this, will have a significant impact on costs, asset values and earning capacity.
- Regulations will set direct requirements that shipowners must comply with but the public as well as third party stakeholders will increasingly have high expectations that will require transparency and promote decarbonisation. Access to finance for new builds may also be dependent on shipowners being able to demonstrate that they can meet decarbonisation targets.
- The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) adopted its Initial GHG Strategy in 2018. The vision of this policy framework is to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping and phase them out, as soon as possible this century. IMO says emissions should peak as soon as possible and total annual GHG emissions should be reduced by at least 50% by 2050 (compared to 2008 levels). The Strategy includes a specific reference to a pathway of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goals.
- The IMO has already adopted the global mandatory measures (listed below) to address the reduction in GHG emissions from ships:
- Carbon intensity of the ship to decline through implementation of further phases of the EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) for new ships.
- Carbon intensity of international shipping to decline.
- GHG emissions from international shipping to peak and decline.
- In 2011, the IMO became the first international body to adopt mandatory energy efficiency measures for an entire industry sector, with a suite of technical and operational requirements for new and existing vessels that entered into force in 2013.
- Global maritime transport plays a crucial role in both facilitating trade and fostering economic development at an international scale. In fact, international shipping enables 80-90% of global trade. However, the IMO reports that global maritime transport contributes to global climate change and local air pollution. It is reported to be responsible for ~3% of global GHG emissions on a CO2-equivalent basis and emitting an estimated 15% of the world’s major air pollutants annually. Under a new voyage-based allocation method, the share of international shipping represented 740 mt of CO2 in 2018 (if this were a country, it would be the 6th or 7th largest CO2 emitter, i.e. like Germany). According to a range of plausible long-term economic and energy business-as-usual scenarios, shipping emissions could represent 90-130% of 2008 emissions by 2060. But international shipping emissions fall outside national GHG emissions accounting frameworks.
- The IMO indicates that, by 2050, maritime trade could increase between 40% and 115% compared to 2020 levels. If no actions are taken, IMO has flagged that GHG emissions could grow between 50% and 250% by 2050, compared with 2008 emission levels.
- Over recent years, shipping has come under increased pressure to address the negative environmental impacts. The implementation of the Initial Strategy represents a major challenge for a sector that is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels: at present, ~99% of the international energy demand from the international shipping sector is met by fossil fuels.
- The IMO is clear that the use of alternative fuels is considered key in achieving the Initial Strategy goals.
- Potential drop-in and alternative fuels identified are liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, ammonia, dimethyl ether, methanol and biofuels.
The Formation of WCP
Following their success at BWSC, when launching WCP, the Directors sought to raise development and construction funding to enable WCP to implement its own Waste-to-Energy (WtE) projects in the UK using their innovations to minimise emissions and any return to landfill.
However, during the course of the process, with multiple me-too WtE projects seeking development funding and the evolving markets, particularly in terms of demand for the more common waste streams, WCP realised that the production of high value products from less usual waste streams was more relevant and indeed should be its focus, leveraging on its very particular set of skills and experience.
This focus has been highlighted by skyrocketing power prices following the issues arising from the conflict in Ukraine. A business model exploiting such pricing is not consistent with WCP’s focus on the three pillars of true sustainability.
Selected WCP activities
- WCP has secured two of PD Ports’ sites in Teesside, proximate to the River Tees and docks, for its own project developments in this regard and it has also secured long-term, secure supplies of various, more complex, waste feedstocks and is developing an efficient process for conversion of these to high value products like alternative marine fuels.
- WCP researched and prepared a detailed review paper on the Decarbonisation of Marine Sector.
- WCP has further characterised in detail selected specialised waste streams as viable alternative feedstocks for high value products.
- Following the above, in the context of increased recycling and reduction of waste in the automotive sector, WCP has prepared a similarly detailed paper on further treatment of Automotive Shredder Residue to produce an alternative feedstock and minimise any return to landfill.
- Whilst with Rockfield Energy, Philip Spanos was engaged by a major Oil and Gas company seeking to decouple some of its revenues from O&G cycles and leverage its offshore experience into the renewables sector. A deep review of all activities and capabilities was conducted and a strategy defined: this was adopted by the client company.
- The ability of WCP to innovate and deliver innovative financing structures for projects and project-based businesses, was demonstrated with the conceptualisation and delivery of landmark financing structures for the low-carbon businesses of Carbon Trust Enterprises, the commercialisation arm of the UK Government’s Carbon Trust. WCP’s principals implemented these in competitive selection processes with leading international investors.