EcoDesign strategies for zero-emission hydrogen fuel vessels scenarios

Maritime Shipping emissions represent the 13% of the overall EU greenhouses gas emissions (GHG) of the whole transport sector. It is estimated that they could increase between 50% and 250% by 2050 under a business-as-usual scenario, undermining the objectives of the Paris Agreement. From 2021, the European Commission adopted a series of legislative proposals to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050, including the intermediate target of at least 55% net reduction in GHG emission by 2030. Despite hydrogen is worldwide considered a valid option to reach the emission reduction targets, being part of the IMO strategy also, a common approach to face the design challenges due to hydrogen introduction in waterborne transport is not yet available. Focus of this study is the adoption of hydrogen-based propulsion technologies for passenger ferries, with the aim to draft the strategies that can be adopted to reach that goal. An overview of the current state-of-the-art of hydrogen-based fuel passenger ships is presented: the EcoDesign Strategy Wheel (a tool to helps embed sustainability into any innovation and consider life-cycle impacts of the product) has been chosen to highlight the different approaches adopted by the designers of the existing vessels. The same tool has then been applied to three reference scenarios developed within the EU-funded project “e-SHyIPS” (Ecosystemic knowledge in Standards for Hydrogen Implementation on Passenger Ship). The outcome is a comparison among the two approaches highlighted during the analysis, which provides design support during the future challenges designers and shipbuilders will be called to face during the design loop phases.