Translating maritime climate ambition into action

Neil Dalus, Risk Assessment Manager at TT Club, discusses how to translate maritime decarbonisation ambitions into practical, risk-aware actions

Maritime transport moves about 80% of global trade but is among the hardest sectors to decarbonise. Ships and port assets last 25-30 years, operate in a highly competitive global market, and face uneven regulations and incentives. Higher costs, emerging technologies, and immature value chains for alternative fuels such as green methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen further slow progress.

Within this context, the European Union’s (EU) Green Deal and associated measures, such as the Fit for 55 package and FuelEU Maritime, set a high bar for decarbonising European shipping. The core challenge now is to translate these ambitions into concrete, risk-aware investment and operating decisions for both public authorities and private operators.

Climate risk is already on the quay

Decarbonisation is only one side of the climate equation; physical climate risk is now a daily operational reality for ports and shipping lines. Sea level rise, storm surge, heatwaves, and extreme rainfall threaten nearly 90% of the world’s large ports.

We’ve already seen how climate-driven disruption can cascade through global supply chains. Flooded terminals, damaged breakwaters, and blocked access roads can disrupt operations, strand cargo, and cause widespread delays. Global insured losses from natural catastrophes now average around USD 100 billion annually, much of it from weatherrelated infrastructure damage.

Traditional risk frameworks often miss these complex interdependencies. Factors such as local topography, drainage capacity, electrical grid resilience, and telecoms infrastructure may be outside a port operator’s control, yet they’re critical to operational continuity. As the industry accelerates investment in new fuels, bunkering, and shore power, understanding these systemic vulnerabilities is essential.

A step change in sustainable transport investment

The EU’s Sustainable Transport Investment Plan (STIP) seeks to modernise and decarbonise Europe’s transport system, including maritime. However, analyses suggest shipping will still require several billion euros in additional annual investment across ships, ports, fuel production, and related infrastructure to meet 2030-2035 targets.

For ports and terminals, this means carefully sequencing shore power and grid upgrades, adapting bunkering and safety systems for new fuels, and modifying quays, channels, and yard layouts for changing vessel designs and cargo flows.

Moving too early or without coordination risks locking in technologies that later prove redundant against regulation or market demand, creating stranded assets and undermining investor confidence. A low-carbon, climate-resilient maritime sector will therefore require a coordinated blend of public and private capital.

Public funding and policy should prioritise common-use infrastructure, such as grid upgrades, access roads, rail links, channels, and shared safety systems, as well as emergency response and environmental monitoring. Grants, guarantees, blended finance and clear regulation can help derisk early projects and support R&D.

Private investment will remain central to vessel procurement and retrofits, terminal equipment and automation, on site generation and storage, commercial bunkering, and digital platforms.

Designing for low carbon and high resilience

Europe is well-positioned to lead in clean maritime technologies, but this leadership depends on clear, long-term signals on emissions standards, fuel requirements, and reporting requirements. Constant policy shifts or vague targets unnerve investment in long-lived assets like ports and vessels, while well-designed regulation can help provide incentives while leaving room for technological diversity.

Ports are natural test beds for new fuel value chains and operating models. Targeted support for pilot bunkering systems, hybrid propulsion retrofits, shore power, and digital tools can build the experience needed to scale. Simultaneously, shared procedures for performance monitoring and safety risk management will help replicate successful models across the network.

Low-carbon port infrastructure must also be climate resilient. Raising quay heights, upgrading drainage, protecting critical equipment from flooding and heat, and integrating natural defences such as restored wetlands should be considered in decarbonisation projects from the outset to avoid costly retrofits and ensure robustness.

This prerequisite demands a more sophisticated view of risk that gives equal weight to physical climate risk, operational disruption, and infrastructure interdependencies alongside emissions and cost. For instance, a fuel that appears optimal in emissions may rely on production or supply routes highly exposed to climate hazards, but placing critical fuel storage or power assets in vulnerable areas of a port can increase downtime and losses during extreme weather events.

Insurers have a critical role in this transition. By sharing data, analytics, and risk management expertise, they can help ports and shipping companies quantify risk exposures and assess the resilience of different investment options.

Aligning all facets for Europe’s maritime sector

For Europe’s maritime sector, the convergence of climate ambition, regulatory evolution and physical risk is redefining strategic priorities. The question is no longer whether to act, but how to do so in ways that are both environmentally credible and operationally robust.

If these elements align, decarbonising European shipping can enhance rather than weaken resilience and competitiveness. Ports and shipping companies that build risk-aware climate strategies into core business plans will maintain continuity more effectively, attract more capital, and help sustain Europe’s role as a leader in clean, secure maritime trade.