New report to help shape the UK’s energy mix of low-carbon maritime fuels published today

08 April 2025

The National Engineering Policy Centre has today published new analysis to support the UK maritime sector’s transition to low-carbon fuels, coinciding with a new maritime net zero framework expected by the International Maritime Organisation this week. The new report on Low-carbon maritime fuelling provides detailed comparisons on four alternative, low-carbon fuel sources that could power UK shipping in the future. The analysis aims to support policymakers to decide the most appropriate combination of these cleaner fuels to reduce emissions across the sector by the targets outlined in the UK’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy. This comparison of low-carbon fuel sources could also help other countries to decide how to decarbonise their own maritime sectors. 

Four options for different low-carbon fuels generated by renewable electricity – hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and synthetic hydrocarbons – could be used to power ships in a way that does not produce any direct carbon emissions when combined with direct air capture technology. Further analysis is needed to determine exactly what role each of these low-carbon fuelling options will play in the maritime sector. However, the report’s evaluation of each of the individual fuels indicates that renewable sources are economically competitive with traditional fossil fuel-based sources used in maritime.

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