Wärtsilä has outlined its strong support for the agreement made last week at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, UK, for the shipping industry to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 50% from 2008 levels by 2050. This long-awaited agreement represents an important milestone for global shipping. It is critical that we have an industry-wide framework for reducing emissions, and this sends a clear signal that we should all join forces in promoting carbon-free shipping, said Jaakko Eskola, Wärtsiläs CEO. The next extremely important step must be to define concrete abatement measures, and to establish a clear roadmap together with the industry and decision-making bodies. Wärtsilä has placed a huge emphasis on introducing technologies to considerably reduce the environmental impact of vessels. It is vital to note that there is no single solution for decarbonising the shipping sector while also controlling the other pollutants. A clean-shipping future must be based on the combination of different technologies and various solutions. These will include cleaner fuels, efficient vessel designs, hybrid propulsion technologies and intelligent vessels, added Eskola. Wärtsilä believes that increased adoption of LNG as a marine fuel will be needed to accelerate the reduction in GHG. The progress already made in LNG-related innovations has the potential to lower emissions of GHG from vessels by as much as 30%. With the development of new technologies there is more potential for even further reductions. Wärtsiläs smart marine vision, which utilises high levels of digitisation and connectivity, aims at increasing overall resource efficiency, minimising the environmental impact, and increasing the safety and reliability of maritime transport. We should look beyond just vessel-level emissions. To be truly effective, we need to target everything involved in moving goods and passengers. At Wärtsilä, we envision a smart marine ecosystem wherein smart vessels sail between smart ports in an environment of optimal efficiency and minimised emissions, concluded Eskola.