On Friday, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced a green shipping corridor program to help decarbonize the marine sector, which also includes Canada’s east and west coasts.
Decarbonization calls for the stopping and reduction of gasses, especially carbon dioxide, from being released into the atmosphere.
“With the new green shipping corridor program, Canada is taking another step toward meeting its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050,” the minister said in a release.
Already taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are St. Catharines-based Algoma Central Corp. and Montreal’s Canada Steamship Lines (CSL).
On its website, Algoma said its domestic fleet voluntarily participates in the Green Marine program, which aims to improve the marine industry’s environmental performance above and beyond regulation in a number of areas, including aquatic invasive species, pollutant air emissions, greenhouse gases, waste management and underwater radiated noise.
It said its Equinox Class vessels, which transit the Welland Canal in Niagara, are all equipped with certified exhaust gas scrubbers designed to meet stringent sulphur oxide emission limits.
CSL said it recognizes the pressing need to reduce its carbon footprint and is actively investing in and exploring a range of decarbonization strategies readily available today.
On its website, the shipping company said its B100 biodiesel program has demonstrated the effectiveness of biofuel as a powerful tool in achieving net-zero emissions today.
Biodiesel is a drop-in fuel option for vessels that does not require retrofitting or major modifications to ships or infrastructure. The fuel can be delivered through existing supply and bunkering facilities and, depending on the source of feedstock, can reduce well-to-wake greenhouse gas emissions by over 80 per cent, said CSL on the website.
In his announcement, Rodriguez said the program will be delivered through two streams of funding: clean ports, which supports the adoption of clean technology and infrastructure at ports and terminals, and clean vessel demonstration, which allows studies, testing and pilot clean fuel propulsion systems for vessels.