Navigating unchartered waters: Overcoming barriers to low-emission fuels in Swedish maritime cargo transport

Journal article, 2023

The maritime transport sector is often considered hard to abate in the context of greenhouse gas emissions, and the adoption of low-emission marine fuels is slow. Low-emission marine fuels are essential to create a sustainable maritime sector, but to accelerate the speed of adoption, we must understand what hinders their use. This paper outlines the complexity of the marine fuel choice and describes the market landscape. Taking a bottom-up perspective, we investigate the stakeholders´ perspective on low-emission marine fuels. Through thematic analysis, barriers and drivers are analyzed for adopting low-emission marine fuels in Swedish maritime cargo transport, using primary qualitative data from 17 semi-structured interviews. The results confirm previously established barriers, such as fuel price, but expand on the current discourse by incorporating qualitative dimensions. We also identified five specific business models for low-emission marine fuel use. Shipping companies trust that investments in sustainable alternatives will eventually pay off. Despite this, the adoption is slow. The themes reveal a sector that wants to transform but often lacks drivers without well-developed legislation. By directing attention to these themes and the underlying complexities, we provide valuable insight to decision-makers and policymakers on what can be done to accelerate the share of low-emission marine fuels.