Port of Vancouver's 'ambitious' zero-emissions plan praised, but critics say LNG stands in the way

A Port of Vancouver patrol boat putters off into the Burrard inlet, its engine humming as it runs off renewable diesel fuel made from natural fats.

The port's climate action director, Ronan Chester, is on board and says the fuel is just one step towards a much bigger transition.

"It's a test or demonstration that we're doing to understand the operability of the fuel," he told CBC News while pointing out other boats and locomotives within the port testing the same product.

At the container terminal, a handful of new electric rail-mounted cranes move cargo alongside the traditional diesel-powered ones. Chester says even some of the terminal trucks are electric.

"We have to find a way to get this port to a zero-emissions port," he said, staring ahead at a goal that's now less than three decades away.

"That really is about an energy transition, it's thinking about how to get different types of increasingly lower carbon intensity fuels and technologies into the port, into heavy-duty transportation."

Canada's largest port has committed to becoming a zero-carbon port by 2050, a transition still in its infancy but has been dubbed ambitious by clean shipping advocates, as calls to dramaticaly reduce the industry's carbon footprint by that time grow louder and more urgent.

But some critics say the port's simultaneous commitment to liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion in its waters threaten to undermine its very own climate goals.

The port is working with FortisBC to expand LNG bunkering in the region to meet growing demand from ships entering the port by 2030, which it says will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 30 per cent.

Allyson Browne, climate campaigner with the international non-profit Pacific Environment, says the expansion, if completed, means the port will continue to be an emitter.

"There are some false solutions out there," she said. 

"LNG is not a transition fuel, it's only furthering our reliance on fossil fuels and continuing this benefit that fossil companies are receiving off the backs of our public health and the well-being of our planet."

Port must 'abandon' LNG plans to reach goals

The California-based Pacific Environment, a consultant to the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO), recently graded 15 prominent ports across the world, including Vancouver's.

The group gave it a favourable 'Full Steam Ahead' rating, noting its commitment to become emissions-free is among the most ambitious pledges made by ports globally.

It also referenced its shore power for boats at berth, efforts to reduce noise pollution, and the EcoAction Program, which provides for reduced fees for clean ships.

But the grade concluded the port must "abandon all plans to support LNG bunkering" in order to achieve its emissions goals.

"We have been advocating specifically to Vancouver ... to make sure they're not making any investments in LNG bunkering infrastructure or otherwise, and really taking a leadership position to say LNG is not the way to go," said Browne.

The province has pledged its support to LNG expansion.

Transition to net-zero 'takes more time'

The global shipping industry in its current form is responsible for about three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, an amount equivalent to that of Germany.

The shipping industry's regulator, the IMO, has set a target of cutting greenhouse emissions in half by 2050. To meet the Paris Agreement's 1.5 C global heating target, shipping emissions would need to be completely eliminated by 2080.

The International Chamber of Shipping has called for net-zero by 2050, a target proponents say could be achieved by making use of evolving marine fuel technologies, including recently developed hydrogen-powered cargo ships.

While advocates say ports like Vancouver should look toward bunkering zero-emission fuels of the future, Chester notes widespread adoptions are still a ways off, and transition fuels are needed now.

"We need to find what those other fuels and technologies are, but that's going to require expanding electrification, battery technology, distribution of electrical power, conversion to hydrogen where it's needed," said Chester.

"All that takes more time, and more money."