Amazon and IKEA Push for Green Fuels in Ocean Shipping Through Major E-Fuel Tender

Amazon, IKEA, and over 30 other companies, as members of the Zero Emissions Maritime Buyers Alliance (ZEMBA), are ramping up efforts to decarbonize ocean shipping by announcing a major e-fuel tender set to launch in January 2025. This initiative is expected to make significant strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the maritime sector, marking a substantial push towards greener cargo transport with near-zero emissions fuels.

The tender, designed to create demand for e-fuels specifically for ocean freight, aims to drive the industry towards using sustainable fuels for cargo transport. Set to start contracts in 2027, the tender covers enough capacity to transport approximately 1.4 million twenty-foot containers, potentially cutting up to 470,000 metric tonnes of GHG emissions. While alliance members anticipate an initial premium for adopting these fuels, they hope that increased demand and scaling supply will gradually lower costs.

ZEMBA President and CEO Ingrid Irigoyen emphasized the groundbreaking nature of this collective action, stating, “ZEMBA is making history by voluntarily catalyzing commercial e-fuel deployment through our next collective tender. Our members are demonstrating that freight buyers are willing to make multi-year advanced offtake commitments now to incentivize the creation of new markets for the most scalable solutions.” This approach, she added, is aimed at accelerating clean energy transition in maritime shipping, helping members reach their 2030 and 2040 climate targets.

The initiative reflects ZEMBA’s ambitious goals to aggregate at least 80 billion tonne nautical miles of demand, equivalent to the cargo capacity between Shanghai and Los Angeles. As the global fleet currently moves over 80% of international trade and contributes roughly 3% of worldwide GHG emissions, e-fuels have emerged as a crucial solution for the sector’s long-term decarbonization, offering potential to eventually compete with fossil fuels in both cost and supply.

ZEMBA’s membership has expanded to include 40 multinational companies, such as AIT Worldwide, dsm-firmenich, and SEKO Logistics, which have pledged support for multi-year contracts aimed at promoting scalable, near-zero emissions fuel solutions. The group is set to use the forthcoming tender as a means to build on its earlier success in 2024, where it introduced liquified biomethane through its first tender, successfully cutting emissions by 82,000 metric tonnes.

The new tender design incorporates insights gained from ZEMBA’s earlier efforts and the collaborative work done with Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub. The call for bids, which will be open to both individual carriers and consortiums, will prioritize solutions that provide at least a 90% reduction in emissions. Interested companies can access further resources via ZEMBA’s Sustainability Framework and tender scope, which has been developed in collaboration with the Center for Green Market Activation, Lloyd’s Register, and Pillsbury.